Читать книгу The Devious Book for Cats: Cats have nine lives. Shouldn’t they be lived to the fullest? - Литагент HarperCollins USD, Ю. Д. Земенков, Koostaja: Ajakiri New Scientist - Страница 13

Cats aren’t shy about risking life and limb in pursuit of thrills. One day it’s a blink-of-an-eye stunt, taking you from the couch to the coffee table, off a chair and onto a wheeled footrest that skids across the room. The next, it’s a headline-grabbing leap out the window of a high-rise building. Either way, you are awarded the awestruck admiration accorded all audacious cats.

But have you ever asked yourself how we physically and mentally pull off such amazing feats? What is it that makes us capable of walking out on the ledge, walking off said ledge and living to revel in glory?

1 – Fear of Heights? Ha!

No cat afraid of extreme heights is much of a daredevil. Humans have named our ability to stay poised at such elevations ‘High-Rise Syndrome’. We just call it ‘Walking Around’. Thinking we might hurt ourselves, humans try to protect us against our ‘overconfidence’ with respect to lofty perches. It’s always hilarious to be called ‘overconfident’ by a human.

2 – Right Every Time

Why does a cat always land on its feet? One answer is rooted in physics, which requires understanding concepts of rotational motion. It’s much easier just to talk about the Righting Reflex, which is fun to say over and over. The Righting Reflex is what allows us to orient our bodies to keep from tumbling through the air while falling. It is performed by bending at the middle so that the front half of the body rotates on an axis opposite to the rear half. The front legs come around first, then the rear. Everything is as it should be as we streak towards the ground for a perfect landing.

3 – No Collarbone? No Problem

Cats do have clavicles but they are non-functional, a chief reason we’re able to perform the neat trick of squeezing through impossibly tight spaces. It also isn’t a bad thing when you’re landing from a fall. Evel Knievel had two collarbones and broke them both.

4 – Cats Have a Non-Fatal Terminal Velocity

A falling cat cannot exceed 60 mph. This is an important reason we’re able to survive long falls. Small size, light bone structure and a coat of fur all help keep our terminal velocity low. By comparison, a human’s terminal velocity is 130 mph. When it comes to walking away from a multistorey landing, bigger is definitely not better.

5 – Inability to Feel Regret

Regret is not a feeling cats have to deal with, and that little fact frees us to do some frankly crazy things. Without having to regret a decision, we’re always able to go for it!