Hello Steemians, it's been a nice journey!
50 straight days sharing Useless information with you.
I had to research, study and select among lots of possible stories.
Today I bring you the last Useless information
How do cats survive falls from great heights?
Everyone know stories of cats that fell from high buildings and lived. Off course some unfortunately died, we would expect they all died but the majority lives. Some with minor injuries, others with major injuries but they usually survive.
It depends on the cat but mostly it depends on the height
And no... it's not the highest the more dangerous. Usually cats die or get severely injured when they fall from lower storeys.
It all comes down to physics.
There is a thing called terminal velocity = the speed at which the pull of gravity is matched by wind resistance.
Whatever it is that is falling continues to fall but at a constant speed. It is no longer accelerating after reaching the terminal velocity.
The terminal velocity for cats is about 60mph (97km/h). They reach this velocity after falling about seven storeys (21m). Because they stop accelerating, they have time to relax, spin themselves around so that their feet are facing the ground (aerial righting reflex), stretch the legs to get that parachute effect very much like squirrels and finally prepare a better distribution on impact.
This is why falls from lower storeys usually are more dangerous for cats
They have cool adaptations but still need to be fit and lucky to survive a fall.
I'm not sure this one is fully equipped
Thank you for following and reading my Useless information
RMach
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