Why are cats’ ears on top of their head and not at the sides? The kids’ quiz

<gu-island name="KnowledgeQuizAtom" priority="critical" deferuntil="visible" props="{"id":"f082efab-7142-4124-9d2e-1f112ec50813","questions":[{"id":"8a278fba-241d-4d35-901a-908f4ff28001","text":"Phoebe, 6, asks: why do cats’ ears stick out of the top of their head instead of the sides, like ours?\n","answers":[{"id":"173fb1a1-044c-4a50-97d8-e1133acf9bf3","text":"Cats’ ears lead directly to their brains\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"588bf5b0-f43c-4464-b0d9-34aea277213a","text":"They used to be horns, but evolved into ears because cats couldn’t hear\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"c0ad32c0-a9f6-4667-b0e0-c32871df4d9a","text":"It helps the cat hear very quiet noises\n","revealText":"The position of cats’ ears means they can hear very quiet sounds, which is good for hunting animals such as mice and avoiding predators. Their ears are like radar dishes, moving about so that cats can pick up sounds from all around. ","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":true},{"id":"231c3ed9-c284-4b28-bc17-f0b07aaa2198","text":"There’s no room for ears on the side of their heads\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false}]},{"id":"e438e4ef-502f-4c6f-baa2-f16276e30ef9","text":"Nicole, 6, asks: why do some people sneeze when they eat pepper?\n","answers":[{"id":"da8465b2-0af7-41ec-95e0-25d9b0849881","text":"Some people are allergic\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"18caa882-959e-4bed-8319-94ea9944dce6","text":"Your brain doesn’t like it so makes you sneeze\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"b93ed1d8-b114-4419-a9ca-e1f2a8225204","text":"Pepper can irritate your nose, causing you to sneeze\n","revealText":"Pepper can irritate the delicate nerve endings inside the nose. This triggers a response that causes the muscles of the nose to contract, which then makes you sneeze.","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":true},{"id":"77833d89-a52d-4664-a844-d222bb2b023d","text":"It’s just a coincidence\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false}]},{"id":"4d6f6943-ab00-4470-a99d-ee5421ac4975","text":"Sam, 7, asks: how heavy is a blue whale’s tongue?\n","answers":[{"id":"bc9f5fed-0f8f-438f-bb08-45c36da24f1a","text":"4kg – the same weight as a small cat\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"5e9435dd-24f5-4f01-9f6d-bcecc8966cc8","text":"40kg – roughly the same weight as an average 12-year-old child\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"4e53a1f3-cbe5-46ce-8e87-1c5e6035390d","text":"400kg – the same as a grand piano\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"3b251863-6a8a-4410-a419-b17f3bf13d77","text":"4,000kg – the same as an elephant\n","revealText":"A blue whale’s tongue weighs on average 4,000kg – that’s about the same weight as an adult elephant. It is the heaviest tongue of any animal in the world.","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":true}]},{"id":"bf59f239-0c10-454a-be99-b8ec0bc1bbb6","text":"Finley, 8, asks: when did people first go to space?\n","answers":[{"id":"545bf1c8-7f9b-47fd-8e3d-480253347455","text":"1880 – Queen Victoria was very keen on the idea of space travel\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"04c50f57-cdcc-4d1d-8f3d-8b3e92b3b99e","text":"1940 – Albert Einstein helped to design the spacecraft\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"892183f6-bbab-4e6a-96f1-54604fb3c769","text":"1961 – cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth\n","revealText":"Yuri Gagarin, an astronaut from the then-Soviet Union, was the first human to enter space in April 1961. He did a full circle around the Earth at more than 27,000 kilometres an hour, and the journey took him 108 minutes!","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":true},{"id":"8042e708-fa92-4515-9571-296c8e35bc86","text":"There’s no such thing as space\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false}]},{"id":"fb0d3634-edcd-4107-9c0d-672bf8290041","text":"Easton, 9, asks: what is 55×34?\n","answers":[{"id":"15c58096-64a6-4521-bb29-cf9100f7ad63","text":"1,870\n","revealText":"The answer is 1,870, but it’s a tricky one to work out. Not everyone understands multiplication straight away, but practice makes perfect, and at school you will learn handy ways to do big multiplication sums like this one.","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":true},{"id":"1ffdd70c-a4d7-47a2-af8b-255befe9adf4","text":"1,850\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"65b10d48-0eeb-4d09-bcef-ba169e339ad6","text":"1,890\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false},{"id":"3b11d635-3f43-4da8-ab66-dc5eeeb0273b","text":"2,890\n","answerBuckets":[],"isCorrect":false}]}],"resultGroups":[{"id":"2f04c2d3-6c64-4aed-80b6-e6b4a8bfb0a6","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":1},{"id":"dab37280-5566-4d93-8782-b3fb68360a7c","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":0},{"id":"eb2b412f-df23-4725-b1fd-448b5c3ed584","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":2},{"id":"57b23258-1e23-494e-b20e-3f347f0372d6","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":3},{"id":"a9c43544-18b3-4431-8b97-f0e55d2cf73f","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":4},{"id":"85255fd6-e51b-4c4e-b196-1fa147f87582","title":" ","shareText":"I got _/_ in ","minScore":5}],"pageId":"lifeandstyle/2026/mar/07/why-are-cats-ears-on-top-of-their-head-and-not-at-the-sides-the-kids-quiz","webTitle":"Why are cats’ ears on top of their head and not at the sides? The kids’ quiz","format":{"design":17,"display":0,"theme":4}}”>

  1. 1.Phoebe, 6, asks: why do cats’ ears stick out of the top of their head instead of the sides, like ours?

  2. 2.Nicole, 6, asks: why do some people sneeze when they eat pepper?

  3. 3.Sam, 7, asks: how heavy is a blue whale’s tongue?

  4. 4.Finley, 8, asks: when did people first go to space?

  5. 5.Easton, 9, asks: what is 55×34?

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

The Guardian

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