1. A group of cats is called a "clowder".
2. Cats have over 20 muscles that control their ears.
3. Cats sleep 70% of their lives.
4. When cats "grimace", they are usually "taste-scenting". They have an extra organ that, with some breathing control, allows the cats to "taste-sense" the air.
5. Cats can't taste sweetness.
6. Evidence suggests domesticated cats have been around since 3600 B.C., 2000 years before Egypt's pharaohs.
7. Cats are often lactose intolerant, so do not give them milk...
8. In the 1960's the CIA tried to turn a cat into a "bonafide" spy by implanting a microphone into her ear and a radio transmitter at the base of her skull. She somehow survived the surgery but got hit by a taxi on her first mission.
9. The technical term for "hairball" is "bezoar".
10. Female cats are typically right-pawed while male cats are typically left-pawed.
11. Cats make more than 100 different sounds whereas dogs make around 10 different sounds.
12. A cat's cerebral cortex (the part of the brain in charge of cognitive information processing) has 300 million neurons, compared with a dog's 160 million neurons.
13. Cats have a longer-term memory than dogs, especially when they learn by actually doing rather than simply seeing.
14. It was illegal to slay cats in ancient Egypt, in large part because they provided the great service of controlling the rat population.
15. In the 15th century, Pope Innocent VIII began ordering the killing of cats, pronouncing them demonic.
16. A cat has five toes on his front paws, and four on the back, unless he's a polydactyl.
17. Original kitty litter was made out of sand but it was replaced by more absorbent clay in 1948.
18. Abraham Lincoln kept his four cats in the White House.
19. Isaac Newton is credited with inventing the cat door.
20. A cat can jump up to six time its length.
21. When cats leave their poop uncovered, it is a sign of aggression to let you know they don't fear you.
22. Cats can change their meow to manipulate a human. For example, they often imitate a human baby when they need food.
23. Cats use their whiskers to detect if they can fit through a space.
24. Cats only sweat through their foot pads.
25. The first cat in space was French. She was named Felicette, or "Astrocat". She survived the trip.
26. Cats have free-floating clavicle bones that attach their shoulders to their forelimbs, which allow them to squeeze through very small spaces.
27. Hearing is the strongest of cat's senses: They can hear sounds as high as 64 kHz - compared with humans, who can only hear as high as 20 kHz.
28. Cats can move their ears 180 degrees.
29. They can also move their ears separately.
30. A cat's nose is ridged with a unique pattern, just like a human fingerprint.
(For many more astounding facts about cats go to BuzzFeed)
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