• Question: how do cats always land on their feet?

    Asked by theo to Adam, Chris, Eleanor, Jessamyn, Sinead on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Adam Murphy

      Adam Murphy answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Cats are awesome!

      They’re also really flexible, when they fall, they know how to twist in such a way that they pull their paws into the right place!

      It’s called the Cat Righting Reflex (It has a name and that’s the best thing I’ve learned today!)

      There was also a study done on cats that fell out of apartment blocks (poor kitties!) It found that after a certain height, the cats are able to spread their bodies out and kind of parachute down to Earth. But please don’t drop kitties. They’re happier doing their thing!

      There’s a cool animation on the Wikipedia page that shows how they right themselves when they fall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex

      Hope that helps you!

    • Photo: Sinead Cullen

      Sinead Cullen answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Hi Theo,
      Cool question, well its because of the way cats are built. The cat’s inner ear houses it’s balance system. This can tells the cat’s body where it is in relation to the ground, whether upside down, in motion, or walking around.
      The system lets the cat’s body correct itself so that they’re feet will touch the ground first. Cats are also born with flexible back bones and that helps them correct their position when they are falling.
      Even though they do always land on their feet they can break their legs, the poor things.

    • Photo: Eleanor Holmes

      Eleanor Holmes answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      This question reminds me of a joke. Since the question is already answered perfectly by Adam and Sinead, I will just add the joke. Here goes:

      Did you hear about the girl who discovered perpetual motion? She stuck a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat, butter side up and dropped it from a metre up. The cat and toast will spin in mid-air forever!

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