Angie Li | January 27th, 2025
Cats are undeniably mysterious creatures, from their midnight parkour on your furniture to their ability to fit into impossibly small spaces. But one skill that never fails to shock people is their ability to always land on their feet. The secret lies in a mix of physics and feline anatomy – specifically their “righting reflex” and some clever mid-air physics.
When a cat falls, the first thing it does is figure out which way is up. They do this by using their vestibular apparatus inside their ears, which is used for balance and orientation. After orienting themselves upwards, they manipulate their angular momentum (which is a measure of spin) by rotating their body in opposite directions. By tucking in their front legs while stretching out their back legs, cats create a rotational force that twists their upper body. Then, they reverse the process and pull their back legs inwards while extending their front legs to rotate their lower body in the opposite direction. Their flexible spine allows for this opposite rotating movement in their body, causing the change in their angular momentum to be zero, enabling them to be upright. As a result, cats are able to orient themselves correctly and land on all four paws.
The height of a cat’s fall has a huge impact on whether it lands on its feet — and how well it walks away afterward. In 1987, the New York City Animal Medical Center looked at records of cats that had taken accidental dives from multi-story buildings. The results, shockingly, were that 90% survived, and 37% needed emergency care. The fact that the height of the fall made a big difference is known as “high-rise syndrome”: cats falling from 7 to 32 stories tend to get less injured than those falling from 2 to 6 stories.
Cats also have an amazing ability to function like a parachute while falling. Scientists believe that when a cat falls from higher up, they eventually reach their terminal velocity (the maximum velocity an object attains while falling), which is around 60 miles per hour, allowing them to relax midair. After falling at that steady speed, they stretch out their legs and expand the surface area of their body like a parachute. In turn, their drag resistance is increased and helps them soften the landing. However, while many cats survive falls from significant heights, it’s important to note that they still often sustain injuries.
Cats’ incredible righting reflex is a fascinating reminder of how biology and physics work together in nature.
References
Bischoff, M. (2023, July 24). Why Do Cats Land on Their Feet? Physics Explains. Scientific American. Retrieved December 3, 2024, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-cats-land-on-their-feet-physics-explains/
Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? | Purina. (2020, November 26). Purina UK. Retrieved December 3, 2024, from https://www.purina.co.uk/articles/cats/behaviour/common-questions/do-cats-land-on-their-feet
Whitney, W. O., & Mehlhaff, C. J. (1987). High-rise syndrome in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 191(11), 1399–1403.