Cat righting reflex

src: upload.wikimedia.org

The cat righting reflex is the innate ability of the cat to adjust when it falls to land on its feet. Reflex straightening begins to appear at 3-4 weeks, and is refined at 6-7 weeks. Cats can do this because they have extraordinarily flexible spine and no functional collarbone (collarbone). The minimum height required for this to occur in most cats (safe) is about 30 cm (12 inches). Tailless cats also have this ability, since most cats move their hind legs and rely on the conservation of angular momentum to regulate landings, and the tail is actually little used for this achievement.

Video Cat righting reflex

Technique

After determining from above visually or with their vestibular apparatus (in the inner ear), cats manage to rotate themselves face down without ever changing their clean angular momentum. They are able to accomplish this with the following key steps:

1. Bend in the middle so that the front half of their body rotates around a different axis from the back.
2. Tuck their forelegs to reduce the moment of inertia of the front of their bodies and extend their hind legs to increase the moment of inertia of the back of their body so that they can rotate their front further (as much as 90 °, while the back half rotates in the same direction opposite less (as little as 10 Â °).
3. Extend their front legs and tuck their hind legs so they can rotate their back further while their front half rotates in the opposite direction less.

Depending on the flexibility of the cat and the initial angular momentum, if any, the cat may need to perform steps two and three repeatedly to complete a full 180 ° rotation.

Maps Cat righting reflex

Terminal speed

In addition to the straightening reflex, the cat has another feature that reduces damage due to falls. Its small size, light bone structure, and thick fur lowered the speed of its terminal. As it falls, the cat spreads out of its body to increase the drag. An average-sized cat with extended limbs reaches a terminal speed of about 60 mph (97 km/h), while an average-sized man reaches a terminal speed of about 120 mph (190 km/h). A 2003 study of cat height syndrome found that cats oriented feet horizontally after reaching maximum speed so that the impact was more evenly distributed throughout the body.

src: img.directindustry.com

Injuries

Source of the article : Wikipedia