Cats are one of the largest number of pets kept in cities and towns in China. Last year’s data showed that the number of pet cats in cities and towns in China was 44.12 million, second only to dogs, an increase of 8.6% compared to the previous year. How common it is in towns.
There is a saying in the pet circle, saying, "No matter how high a cat falls from, it will not fall to death." . For this reason, there are also a lot of "poop shovel officers". My own cats have done experiments, and the height of the experiment varies, either for the height of being picked up, or falling from a height of 2 stories. In these spontaneous experiments by the "poop shoveler", most cats are safe The ground fell to the ground without any damage, so more people believe it.
So does the cat really fall from any height without falling to death? This is obviously a fallacy. In fact, no matter if the cat falls from any height, there is a certain chance that the cat will be injured or even killed , but within a reasonable range, the lower the cat falls, the probability of injury is also The lower, the lower the severity of the injury.
In addition, it is undeniable that compared to other animals, cats are less likely to be injured when they fall from a certain height. This depends on the special structure of the cat's body, so that when they fall at a certain height, they can always touch the ground first. , And then rely on the way the joints bend to relieve the impact of the fall.
The cat’s "righting reflection"
In real life we can often see this phenomenon, no matter the cat falls from the stairs, the door or the roof When they come, they will always fall to the ground in a posture of "bow up, limbs down".
Many shit shovel officers are also interested. Whether it is throwing the cat up or putting it down, no matter what position the cat is in at the beginning, it can use its keen sense of balance and balance during the fall. Flexibility, to twist one's body and restore the aforementioned landing posture, this phenomenon is academically known as the cat's "righting reflection" .
This ability is innate to cats. starts to appear after 3-4 weeks of birth, and is perfected at 6-7 weeks. This mechanism guarantees cats It’s not easy to get injured when falling from a high place, but for cats less than 6 weeks old, because this mechanism is not perfect, the probability of injury is very high, so even if the "poop shovelers" want to do similar experiments, don’t take them. Cats that are too small are used as test subjects.
The reason why cats can do this is that the knowledge points involved are very complicated. If you expand it, it is not only lengthy, but also the language is difficult to understand. It only involves a "angular momentum" in physics. , it’s hard to watch, so here I will briefly explain it in plain language.
Simply put, the cat’s inner ear has a mechanism , which makes the cat face the ground while falling, the body bends, and the limbs , Head and neck together constitute a "falling posture".
Since the cat’s body skeleton is very flexible and does not have a functional clavicle, it can easily make this "falling posture" by moving the legs and twisting the spine in a certain order. makes the cat in When landing, the limbs first touch the ground and rely on the bending joints to buffer the injury . The whole process is the expression of "righting reflex", which is a self-protection mechanism for cats falling from heights.
Does the cat fall from a height, really can’t fall?
Someone will say, since there is a cat’s "righting reflection", does it mean that the cat will not die? In fact, this is not the case. There is a certain height limit for inducing "righting reflex", and if it exceeds a certain height, the "righting reflex" will not work, or even if the "righting reflex" is triggered, it isWhen the cat falls too high, a large amount of gravitational potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. When the cat falls to the ground, it cannot be consumed by air friction or other means, and it will suffer different degrees of injury.
Scientific research found that wants to trigger the cat’s "righting reflection" height condition of 90 cm. When the height is less than 90 cm, the landing time is too short to support the cat. Complete this process , so a cat falling at this height will land in other positions, which will cause damage to it.
In addition, according to a study in the American Veterinary Journal in 1987, when a cat falls more than 7 stories high, it will not adopt a "falling position", but relax and stretch its body. Thereby increasing air resistance and slowing down the speed of decline.
Research shows that when air resistance is included, a medium-sized cat falls from a height of 7 stories or more with an ultimate speed of 97 kilometers per hour, while an ordinary person from the same height Under the same conditions, the ultimate speed can reach 193 kilometers per hour. The cat's small size, light bone structure, and thick hair all help it reduce the ultimate speed of falling.
But this does not mean that the cat has a "death-free gold medal". According to a study of 132 cats from emergency veterinary clinics in New York City in 1987 that fell from buildings of different heights, about 90% of cats were treated After surviving, 37% of cats must undergo emergency treatment to survive.
Among them, cats falling from a height below 6 floors are more injured than cats falling from a height above 6 floors. In this regard, the researcher explained: it may be more than the height above 6 floors. The cat died on the spot, so it will not be taken to the veterinary clinic, which causes this phenomenon.
It turns out that cats are not unkillable. During 1998-2001, some researchers conducted statistical studies on 119 cats that fell from different heights, and found that they were all affected to varying degrees. The common types of injuries are hind limb fracture, femur fracture, forelimb fracture, limb fracture, tibia fracture, thoracic injury, lung contusion and pneumothorax.
Generally speaking, when a cat falls from a height, the most common type of injury is fractures of varying degrees, followed by internal injuries, especially the lungs. Of course, a few examples show that the chin hits the ground when falling, and the lower jaw Fractures and chipped teeth are also common types of injuries.
"Curiosity kills the cat"
Through some scientific research and a large number of facts, it has been shown that cats are indeed easier to survive than other animals when they fall from a certain height. But it does not mean that they will not fall to death. Once the height of the fall exceeds the height that the cat can bear (about 6 floors or more), then it has a great risk of death, even if the height is less than 6 floors, the cat They may also die due to excessive injuries or failure to receive timely treatment. Therefore, in real life, we must not trust the rumor that "cats can't die" and experiment with our pet cats.
In addition, even at a low height, about the height of a floor, in theory, cats can trigger the "righting reflection" to protect themselves from serious injuries. But most pet cats in life They are all troubled by being overweight, lack of exercise and appear awkward, and their physical fitness is far less than that of wild cats. , which greatly reduces their ability to correct falling posture in the air, and being overweight will speed up their landing speed. As a result, the cat will be more vulnerable.
Perhaps under the same conditions, the wild cats in nature will not fall down at all, but the domestic pet cats can’t tell, so we must not be "killed" because of our curiosity. A cute cat.
Of course, some "poop shovel officers" insist on doing their own experiments. In addition to paying attention not to be too high, they also need to be careful not to be too short. I said that the cat wants to trigger The height of "regular reflection" must be more than 90 cm, when it is less than this height, it is not enough to supportIt completes this process and will land in other positions, causing damage to the cat.
In reality, the cat can survive the fall from a height, indicating that it is lucky, but most cats have suffered different degrees of injuries, either lungs, fractures, or broken teeth, etc., so if You have a cat, and you are interested in "cats can not die", Here I ask you not to believe rumors credulous, let alone experiment with pet cats , after all, curiosity may kill the cat.
