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 gracious rated 23 months ago -
It takes a normal cat about a two and a half feet of free-fall to orient himself to feet-down, and it wasn't until the advent of high-speed cameras that the acrobatics were fully understood. Much like an ice skater controls her rate of spin by pulling in or extending her arms, the cat first ...
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3 Reviews
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- FurretKaoe rated 6 months ago
- Do not cut your cats' whiskers.
- gracious rated 23 months ago
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It takes a normal cat about a two and a half feet of free-fall to orient himself to feet-down, and it wasn't until the advent of high-speed cameras that the acrobatics were fully understood. Much like an ice skater controls her rate of spin by pulling in or extending her arms, the cat first tucks in his front legs and splays out his rear legs, allowing him to quickly situate his forequarters with the feet down. He then reverses the procedure, extending his front legs and tucking in the rear legs, allowing the hindquarters to rapidly twist into position while the forequarters turn only slightly. Rear legs re-extend when in place, and he's fully deployed.
This position is ready for landing, but it also lends the cat a limited aerodynamic-much like the flying squirrel. The ability to increase drag slows a cat's average terminal velocity from a person's 130mph to a much happier 60mph.
- Koger rated 23 months ago
- From the page: "Surprisingly, cats falling from lower floors have been found to suffer greater injury than those falling from higher. In fact, when given prompt medical attention, cats which sustain a fall from two to thirty-two stories have a 90% survival rate!"
pretty interesting article. I live in a three story condo, and one time we were getting the outside of the building painted. My bedroom is on the top floor, and the painters had to remove the screen from my window. My cat likes to sit on the windowsill at night and look out every now and then. One night I left the window open just a crack (keep in mind the screen was still off), and I thought my cat wouldn't be able to open it. I wake up a few hours later to meowing. I get up and see my cat on the little ledge underneath my window. I freak out and get her inside and shut the window. It was definitely one of the scariest things to ever happen.
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