Cats always fall on the feet - or?

A popular wisdom says that cats always fall on the feet. A statement, which if they are also with the very wise statement, the bread always falls butter side, at very interesting speculation leads. I recommend this cat-and-butter. But what is sure to turn falling cat? Cats have a reflex that helps them in case of impact them optimally. Umdrehreflex This ensures that the cat within a short time in case of back to the feet to rotate. In rowing, the first cat with the tail extended to the case at the brakes. Next, she turns her head. The rotary motion is jerky in the front body continued, nachdreht. Finally with the help of the tail of the rear part of the body in the right position. Since turning momentum in the case remain free, the cat during this maneuver with a counter-movement of the body the other end today. And all in a split second and on a case distance of less than one meter. Obviously, this body is not aware of turning out - that would be much too long. Rather, the rapid movement on reflexive nerves controlled. This Umdrehreflex develops in the cat at the age of a few weeks. The body of the cat is doing their way to mitigate a fall, as it represents an optimal combination of elastic muscles and bones and stable vision dar. By the elastic elements is kinetic energy, while the stable parts of the sensitive organs before deformation protect. So cats have ever been on the basic conditions on the paws to fall, as long as the height of a turning maneuver allowed. In one case from the coffee table, even the fastest cat no longer turn. At higher altitudes such as a fall from a building is then the question of whether the cat survived the event is over. In 1987, in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that of 132 cats in New York at an average fall height of 5.5 floors of the 90 percent fall, albeit partially seriously injured, survived. The figures refer only to cats, in an animal clinic, and therefore distorted, as cats, immediately after the fall dead were no longer in the hospital and were therefore not included in the statistics are. Moreover, the media coverage in the direction of cats distorted, which falls from high altitudes have survived. Indeed, who would report on a cat in the event of a fall from the seventh floor dies? And the seventh floor for cats falls a magical figure appears to be. Indeed, while until then the survival chances of falling cat floor with increasing numbers falling, then rising again. The reason is that after a certain period if the air resistance outweighs the gravitational acceleration. For cats, the limit speed at which this happens, at around 100 km / h. For the people because it is less well, incidentally: it is the speed limit at 200 km / h. On longer routes if the cat is therefore in the best case position to facilitate this, stabilize and then landed on all fours. However, there is one factor that may be decisive on whether a cat a fall from a height survived unhurt or not the filling of the bladder condition. Crashes of a cat with a bladder filled with a maximum strain is reached, the bubble similar to a water-filled balloon burst. It will cause severe internal bleeding, in which the cat can die So no more self-experiments with falling cats! The image "Boris flowing" was polandeze at Flickr under a Creative Commons license available.