[Zeph’s Curiosity] How do cats survive falls from great heights? Cats have a natural fondness for heights, but they do not often fall, because they are aware of their surroundings. However, if a cat is distracted by a potential prey, or if it falls asleep, it can fall. During a fall from a high place, a cat can reflexively twist its body and right itself using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This is known as the “cat righting reflex”. The cat righting reflex is a cats innate ability to orient itself as it falls in order to land on its feet. The righting reflex begins to appear at 3–4 weeks of age, and is perfected at 7 weeks. Cats are able to do this because they have an unusually flexible backbone and no functional clavicle (collarbone). The minimum height required for this to occur in most cats (safely) would be around 30 centimetres (12 in). To achieve this, cats probably relax their ventral muscles, flattening their bodies to some extent and creating more resistance to air. Cats without a tail also have this ability, since a cat mostly moves its hind legs and relies on conservation of angular momentum to set up for landing, and the tail is in fact little used for this feat. In addition to the righting reflex, cats have a number of other features that will reduce damage from a fall. Their small size, light bone structure, and thick fur decrease their terminal velocity. Furthermore, once righted they may also spread out their body to increase drag and slow the fall to some extent. A falling cats terminal velocity is 100 km/h (60 mph) whereas that of a falling man in a free fall position is 210 km/h (130 mph). At terminal velocity they also relax as they fall, which protects them to some extent on impact.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 08:32:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015