If you live with a cat, you’ve never doubted that they are capable of defying the laws of gravity. Now you can be sure that he is not the only one. From balancing on the edges of doorways, to walking up walls, to dangling off the slenderest ledges, felines truly have a gift. But how do they do it?
“liquid” catsAs we know, cats can get into tiny spaces. And this is all thanks to their flexibility due to a backbone that allows them to writhe like many other animals cannot. Cats are so flexible that a 2017 study investigated whether they were “liquid.” The search paid off to the French Marc-Antoine Fardin the Ig-Nobel for physics, the satirical prize that is awarded every year to ten authors of “strange, funny and even absurd” research. “A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that conforms its shape to a container. Even cats meet this definition when they get into vases, bowls, jars and wine glasses,” Fardin wryly observed in his study. Seriously, it is precisely the physiology of their body that allows them not so much to challenge the laws of physics, as to exploit them to their advantage to get anywhere.
Parachute bodyIn addition to an enviable elasticity of the spine, and the absence of the clavicle which gives it greater range of motion, cats have the instinct to always land on their feet. When a fall begins, the vestibular apparatus in the ears communicates rapidly with the eyes, thus being able to determine the exact position to hold to fall on the pads of the paws, or in any case in the least impactful way possible. And the tail also seems to help in the somersault.
The physics of jumpingFrom mid-air leaps to acrobatic somersaults, it’s precisely the ability to “free yourself” in the air that gives the illusion of not being subject to gravity. As we said, cats are born engineers and have the innate ability to turn every law of physics to their advantage. Thanks to their perfect hind legs they can make prodigious leaps over nine times their height. This is because they make the most of kinetic energy by bending their legs and stretching their whole body. Also, have you ever seen your cat waddle before jumping? That movement allows him to improve his precision, warm up his muscles and calculate exactly the force to be used to get where he wants.
Mustache balanceJust like in ours, the inner ear of the cat is the vestibular organ responsible for their sense of balance. Exceptional like all his other senses. The credit goes to a combined system that works in unison and combines several organs: eye, ear, tail and even a mustache. The vibrissae are to all intents and purposes sensory organs. They are used to perceive the external environment, maintain balance and calculate distances thanks to atmospheric pressure and air movements. This is possible because they are connected to the nervous system and function as antennas capable of transmitting all the vibrations collected to the brain, providing useful information to reach any desired destination, however unusual it may seem.
