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We're impressed by your curiosity, and delighted to know that Ask Yahoo! is popular with preschoolers. It proves that you're never too young to Yahoo!, and we think cat lovers of all ages will enjoy hearing the answer to your question. At a site called Animal Instincts, we found a collection of scripts from a syndicated radio program where animal experts provide succinct answers to questions about cats and dogs. Reading one of the transcripts, we learned that cat whiskers are very specialized hairs called tactile hairs. Their roots are about three times longer and deeper than normal hairs, and are surrounded by many blood vessels and nerves, which make them extremely sensitive -- able to detect subtle motions like a gentle breeze or
vibration. Cats use this sensitive form of touch to navigate with agility in dark and narrow spaces. Cats' whiskers grow on their eyebrows, chin, and behind the wrists, as well as on their cheeks. At A Dictionary of Slang we learned that the British use the colloquial expression "the cat's whiskers" to refer to a person or thing that is the best, the coolest -- the most sublime. We think your question is the cat's whiskers, not to mention the "bee's knees." We'd like to recommend the Cat Gallery, a feline-friendly site with cat poems, cat photos, and a web-renowned cat dictionary. You might also want to visit The
Stray Cat Strut Page -- part of the recent craze in musical web cartoons.
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