Is the average housecat a physics genius ?
All I can say correctly is that it took someone with a detailed knowledge of physics to explain how cats do what they do . The good things about his explanation is :
1] He's correct
2] He simplified the explanation so that all you need to understand it is the commonly known trick employed by ice skaters when they change their spinning speed by changing their arm extension ...
Take a look at this video which includes cool slowmo clips of a cat righting itself :
Slow Motion Flipping Cat Physics
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I guess I'm no computer genius . I tried unsuccessfully to embed the youtube link . However the old style URL link you see above should work OK .
It seems like the embed worked after all ...
Apparently it is necessary to point out that no cats were injured in the making of this video .
Would anyone like to see a clarification of the terminology used ... or was that already more physics than you ever wanted to read in your life ?!
Thanks for your comment LD .
What I find amazing is that this ability seems to be wired into every cat from average housecats to large jungle cats . As far as I know dogs cannot do this . I'm not sure about rodents however ...
This cat ain't no physicist.
GiGi is such a good girl to put up with all that!
I now have a better understanding of how cats do that. There is an interesting thing about cats, righting themselves and falling. Notices he gave the warning not to try to get your cat to right itself under 40 meters(?). That is because anything shorter and the cat doesn't have the time to do it. But here is a neat thing about cats who have fallen out of buildings. It's called the "Highrise effect"
One last interesting point is that I watched the video till the end and there was a bible quote:
Interesting the blend of religion and bible.
Shih Tzus have awesomeness built in !
MEEOWWwwwwwwwww !
warning not to try to get your cat to right itself under 40 meters(?)
I think the figure was in centimeters ... much smaller .
That was a very informative link :
Animal experts say that the righting reflex is observable in kittens as early as three to four weeks, and is fully developed at seven weeks.
Also :
Whats remarkable is that the study found that cats that fell from heights of 7 to 32 stories were less likely to die than those that fell from 2 to 6 stories.
Why? One theory is that after a certain distance, a cat reaches maximum speed and that vestibular mechanism in its ear shuts off. As a result, the cat relaxes. As any stuntman can tell you, relaxed limbs are less likely to break than unrelaxed ones. Another is that the greater height gives the cat time to adopt its parachute pose.
Parachutes need time to "inflate" and time to transform the vertical motion to horizontal motion . It is the excessive vertical velocity which causes most of the damage .
Ouch &
. Also
That is really cool
Thanks for stopping by .
Slo-mo usually is cool , even for something simple . But this is not simple . Cats are remarkably agile and coordinated .
BTW , I wonder if Gigi shares your enthusiasm ...
That's because they are geniuses; while they can handle the fall, why should they if they don't have too!
:~)
Shoot I had a cat once that could fetch better than any dog I ever had. They use their genius how they chose.
Indeed cats are geniuses . For example mine believes strongly that I exist to serve his every need and so far he has been mostly right ...
Indeed.
That is the genius of cats; we are mere mortals in their eyes!
:~)
Here is another cat genius :
Pretty interesting, and I agree, Perrie, they need 'time' and distance to correct, also.
I had also assumed it has to do with their physiology (extreme flexibility - the way they can arch their back so high, like a raccoon) and nature giving them the abilities that would seem necessary for an animal that can climb trees and things, and jump to great heights (to aid them when they fall).
Cats are pretty cool !
Yes they di, I have 2 of them.
Sure they're cool . But as the above photo shows they are also verrrrry smart !
BTW , did you get to watch the video ?
That may be true ... but they still can't right themselves while falling upside down . Only cats can do that ...
hahaha... very smart - for sure! Yes, I watched the video. The slow-motions were good to see. The physics explanations were interesting to me, too.
I'm glad to hear it . Some people get migraines from physics ...
If I spent much time with it, I probably would, too.
In that case get the #e!! out of here .
uh-oh... running as fast as I can...sure don't want to get kicked by a Kangaroo! Maybe I'll hop into your pouch and you won't see me... (I hope you have a pouch--or is that just the females? Silly question, but never know) ...Best not answer that--don't want to derail. Ok then, I'll get back on-topic and send my body guard kitty to take care of business...