Saturday, March 14, 2026

I always land on my feet.... clever me!

 

Reference - Higurashi et al, 2026  

DOI: 10.1002/ar.70165


We cats are brilliant acrobats. One of our most mysterious and wonderful actions is the way we fall.... on our feet.

Humans just fall to the ground. They hurt themselves - particularly the oldies - because they crash onto their heads, or their hips, or their hands. There is often blood on their bodies or the crack of a broken bone.

We cats survive falls because we land on our feet. 

The trick is that we swivel our bodies, righting ourselves as we fall. 

How do we do this?

We have amazingly flexible spines. The top chest area of our spines bends first so that the front feet point downwards, then the lower spine (not quite so flexible) bends so that the rest of the body is poised to land on all four feet.

Beat this one, humans. You can't. You just can't, you clumsy two-footed dumb animals. 


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