Narrator: 32 stories above
the streets of New York City,
a cat fell from a window and lived.
After vets treated the cat's chipped tooth
and collapsed lungs,
the feline was sent home two days later.
Cats fall a lot,
and they've gotten really good at it.
Drop a cat upside down, for example,
and it will almost
always land on its feet.
That's because cats
are extremely flexible.
They can twist their bodies
mid-air as they fall.
But landing feet first isn't
always the best strategy.
Like if you're falling from 32 stories up.
To figure out how cats manage
that perfect landing every time,
a series of studies looked at
over a 100 cats' falls
from two to 32 stories up.
Comes as no surprise that cats
who fell from the second floor
had fewer injuries
than cats who fell from the sixth floor.
But here is the fascinating part.
Above the seventh story,
the extent of the injuries
largely stayed the same,
no matter how high the cats fell.
So, how is that possible?
Well, it all comes down to acrobatics
or lack thereof.
Cats that fell from
two to seven stories up
mostly landed feet-first.
Above that, however, cats
used a different technique.
Instead of positioning their legs
straight down as they fell,
they splayed out like a parachuter.
And landed belly-first instead.
But this method isn't 100% foolproof.
Chest trauma, like a collapsed lung,
or broken rib is more common
with this landing method.
But the risk of breaking
a leg is much less.
So, how do cats somehow
subconsciously know how to land?
It has to do with a physics phenomenon
called terminal velocity.
At first, the cat plummets
faster and faster under gravity
until she's fallen the
equivalent of five stories.
At that point, she hits
constant terminal velocity
at 100 kilometers per hour.
She's now in free fall
where air friction
counteracts her acceleration
under gravity.
At this point, she's
no longer accelerating
and, more importantly,
doesn't feel the pull from gravity.
So, here's what researchers
think is happening.
From two to seven stories up,
cats don't have enough time
to reach terminal velocity
and prep for landing feet first.
But once they hit terminal velocity,
their instinct changes and
they parachute their limbs.
All that said, don't throw
your cat out of a window.
I can't believe I have to say this.
Not only is it still very dangerous,
it's not very polite.
Don't throw your cat out the window
just to see all that go down.
Just watch this video again.
Just hit the little replay button.
