Why Cats Fall Without Being Injured? – Watch It Live!!

“Cats’ animal instincts are truly stunning”

Why Cats Fall Without Getting Hurt? – See It For Yourself in This Video!!

Cats Fall from Great Heights without Landing Dead Because of Their Innate Basic Instinct called the Righting Reflex!!   

Cats possess an innate ability called as the “righting reflex”. They possess an uncanny righting reflex, in which they orient or adjust their bodies to prepare for the impact of falling from a height. This impeccable ability imparts these animals the excellent survival instincts. The giant counterparts of domestic cats hunt on and above the ground. Domestic cat, following its giant counterparts, shows a in order to spring up and land from high levels.

When a cat falls from a high elevation, it instantly rotates its head in the right direction. If, for example, a cat is upside-down (that is its spinal or dorsal or back is facing down) during a fall, it turns its head in the order that its face sees downwards (towards the floor) and the back of the head upwards. This systematic righting reflex of cat occurs due to its natural or evolutionary orienting nervous mechanisms in its eyes and inner ears. This adjustment of the head brings the forequarters (the part of the body of a four-legged animal that consists of its forelegs, shoulders, and the adjoining parts) also in the downward direction. Next, its spine twists in response to the above reorientation, and then the hindquarters or the rear portion gets are similarly aligned. Moreover, its tail helps in balancing and propelling its body during the act of reorientation. Cat also bends its back before touching the ground. This helps in dissipating the force of landing. The impact of landing is reduced by the soft cushions of the foot-pads.

Domestic cat is quite lighter in body weight. It at reaching the terminal velocity (the maximum uniform velocity reached by a body falling through a medium such as air, when the force of resistance of the medium is equal and opposite to the force of gravity) during a free fall is significantly less heavy than a human being. Moreover, if it falls from a greater height it would have more time to complete adjustment or reorientation due to its innate righting reflex before landing on ground, than if it falls from a lower height. After it has adjusted itself and if is able to reach the free falling at terminal velocity, cat spreads its legs, adding to the drag that helps in slowing it down. During the free fall, it is able to relax it muscles, and this relaxation of muscles reduces the impact of the injuries that otherwise would have happened with tensed muscles.

Cats jumping downwards from high-rise buildings is a not an infrequent phenomena. Open windows at the higher stories of buildings pose danger to them, as they fall out of them so frequently that the veterinary doctors have named this condition as the High-Rise Syndrome. Such falls can result in broken limbs, broken pelvises, head injuries, punctured lungs, shattered jaws, and even death. These mammals do not deliberately jump off from high places but most cats fall accidentally. These accidents occur as our beloved cats get highly focused on the objects of their interests. A moving car, a bird, or any other animal can distract them so much that they can lose their balance and fall.

Shattered Misconceptions About Cats Fall!!

It is a misconception that cats would not be injured if they fell only from one or two stories of buildings. They may actually get more injured when falling from shorter heights than by falling from greater heights. Lower heights do not give these pet mammals enough time to reorient or adjust their body in order to fall correctly. So, cats have a higher chance of suffering less severe injuries if they fall off from a great height. This is so as they would be able to reorient their body by virtue of their uncanny righting reflex. Also, there are more chances of achieving terminal velocity when falling from a greater height against lower heights.

Cats Fall and the Nine Lives!!

It should be remembered that cats do not have nine lives as has been portrayed by the glorious cat legends. When a cat falls from a high-rise building, it is quite probable that it may end up severely injured or dead. It should never be assumed that it has not survived the fall; rather it should be immediately rushed to the nearest veterinary hospital. Statistics have revealed that there is ninety percent survival rate for the one of the best pets of man that is cats, which fell from high-rise buildings if they receive instant medical attention.

About the Author Dr. Aditya Sardana

Dr. Aditya Sardana is a practitioner of electro-homeopathy and other systems of alternative medicine. He is also a naturalist; bioinformaticist; pharmacist; rationalist; science enthusiast; and a writer, editor and books' author who writes for various domains including health, medicine, biology, technology, science, etc.