Do cats always land on their paws?

It turns out that the secret of amazing cat acrobatics lies in the special structure of the skeleton: the connection of joints and vertebrae in them is very flexible. That is why cats have such a graceful gait and can rotate their body along the longitudinal axis by 180°.

In addition, cats have a well-developed vestibular apparatus, which helps to maintain balance in any position.

Reflexively, cats when falling always turn over and land on their paws, from whatever position they fall, it happens lightning fast. The cat has enough height of 30 cm to have time to turn over 180 degrees.Another reflex: when falling, the cat always spreads its paws, this will increase the area of the body, therefore, slow down the fall – the "parachute effect".

The last trick is that before landing, the cat pulls up its hind legs, and the front ones are put forward, due to this, at the moment of touching the ground, depreciation occurs. Slightly soften the landing and pads on the paws.Illustration of a cat falling.

Now a little more detail:

I must say that there is even a science that studies the nature of this reflex and its value for this particular species. The science of cat falls is called pazematology, and its representatives have already discovered quite a lot that has expanded our understanding of the abilities of cats. In particular, the researchers studied in detail the technique of cat falls. It has been found that when an animal that has fallen from a considerable height lands strictly on four legs - this significantly increases its chances of survival. There are two main reasons for this:Spreading its paws when falling, the cat increases the area of its body and air resistance.

First of all, it is worth noting that when the cat turns its paws to the ground, it spreads its limbs slightly to the sides. Thus, the area of the body increases and, accordingly, the air resistance increases. As a result, the fall slows down somewhat, as it happens in a skydiver when opening the parachute.

In addition, scientists have proven that when a cat and a person fall from the same height, the cat's fall rate will be half as fast. And not the last role in such a slow fall is played by the fact that the cat uses its "parachute instinct".The second is that when the cat lands on the relaxed and extended paws, it significantly dampens the force of the impact. In view of this, it becomes clear how one famous kitten, who fell on the concrete sidewalk from the balcony of the thirteenth floor, managed to escape with minor injuries.

This kitten just turned into a kind of small parachute. However, not all cats who fell from a height are so lucky, the fact remains.

However, in cases where the cat has to fall from a small height, everything is not as good as in the cases described above. It does not always manage to land as expected – on all fours. As a rule, a misfire occurs when the fall time is too short for the cat to perform this maneuver. This can happen, for example, if a person lets the cat out of his hands, and before that he held it with its back to the floor and its paws up.You should also be careful when pulling the blanket out from under the cat when it is lying, for example, on the edge of the bed or sofa. The cat can easily slide down without having time to group and take the appropriate position of the body. As paradoxical as it may sound, but from such falls, cats sometimes suffer even more than from flying out of the Windows of high-rise buildings.

Take care of your Pets.

With love
your Notivory.