Hey all! Linda Lou the Blog Dog reporting back to you after doing some research on this crazy phenomenon my neighbor cat Donnie told me about. In case you missed my last blog post (check it out here), Donnie said that cats always land on their feet. Personally, I’m all legs so this seemed pretty hard to believe. So I started doing some research.
As it turns out, there IS such a thing! Cats DO land on their feet! It is called the “Cat Righting Reflex.” Let me explain…
Kittens begin to show this ability by the age of 3-4 weeks and have it purrrrfected by 6-9 weeks of age. Talk about overachieving! Cats have this landing reflex thanks to their super flexible backbone and lack of a functional collarbone. Tails seem to help also, but cats without tails can also perform this amazing feat since it is mostly done by moving the legs and twisting the spine a specific way.
The actual science behind the reflex is a bit much for this chihuahua to understand, but what I can gather is this…. After cats jump (or fall), they first have to figure out which way is up, either visually or by their vestibular apparatus (a cool thing in the inner ear). Then they will twist themselves downward by bending at the middle so the front half rotates separately from the back half. Next, they tuck their front legs in to slow down the front half while extending out the rear legs to speed that up to catch up to the front. Following me so far? I am not sure I am following myself! THEN they extend their front legs and tuck in the rears so they can even out and complete the spin cycle. Whew! Imagine performing those motions in a split second in midair. Crazy!
Even though cats have this magical ability, it is still possible for them to injure themselves severely or even die from extreme falls. There are some amazing stories out there though of some really acrobatic cats. One cat survived a fall from 46 stories!!! That is over 500 feet! 6000 inches! About 333 chihuahuas standing on each other’s backs! That is wild. Cats are so weird. But really cool too.
While I think it is great that my feline friends have this super power, I am glad I woof and not meow. I would be too scared to jump from anything higher than 20 inches.
Later,
Linda Lou the Blog Dog
As it turns out, there IS such a thing! Cats DO land on their feet! It is called the “Cat Righting Reflex.” Let me explain…
Kittens begin to show this ability by the age of 3-4 weeks and have it purrrrfected by 6-9 weeks of age. Talk about overachieving! Cats have this landing reflex thanks to their super flexible backbone and lack of a functional collarbone. Tails seem to help also, but cats without tails can also perform this amazing feat since it is mostly done by moving the legs and twisting the spine a specific way.
The actual science behind the reflex is a bit much for this chihuahua to understand, but what I can gather is this…. After cats jump (or fall), they first have to figure out which way is up, either visually or by their vestibular apparatus (a cool thing in the inner ear). Then they will twist themselves downward by bending at the middle so the front half rotates separately from the back half. Next, they tuck their front legs in to slow down the front half while extending out the rear legs to speed that up to catch up to the front. Following me so far? I am not sure I am following myself! THEN they extend their front legs and tuck in the rears so they can even out and complete the spin cycle. Whew! Imagine performing those motions in a split second in midair. Crazy!
Even though cats have this magical ability, it is still possible for them to injure themselves severely or even die from extreme falls. There are some amazing stories out there though of some really acrobatic cats. One cat survived a fall from 46 stories!!! That is over 500 feet! 6000 inches! About 333 chihuahuas standing on each other’s backs! That is wild. Cats are so weird. But really cool too.
While I think it is great that my feline friends have this super power, I am glad I woof and not meow. I would be too scared to jump from anything higher than 20 inches.
Later,
Linda Lou the Blog Dog
