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 Originally Posted by wufwugy
I do know that cats can fall very long distances without injury, but I think that's due to ability to slow from terminal velocity.
Umm... this is tricky useage of terminal velocity. If the only 2 forces acting on you are your weight and resistance caused by moving through a viscous fluid (even air) and you're falling at constant speed, then you're at terminal velocity.
A skydiver has a range of terminal velocities at which they can fall, depending on how they hold their body. With arms and legs splayed and the spine bent backward, the body will fall belly-down at it's slowest terminal velocity. (Note the maximizing of surface area to the direction of travel.) When a skydiver pulls their arms and legs together and holds their spine straight, then they tend to fall face-down like an arrow at their highest terminal velocity. (Note the minimizing of surface area to the direction of travel.)
My guess as to why cats can survive falls is due to their relatively low mass to sproinginess ratio. That and they have something like 3x more vertebrae than humans, which contributes to their extreme flexibility. Flexibility seems like a good property to have in these cases. They have 2x as many legs, too, and those legs almost always point downward while the cat is falling. Also, cats strongly arch their backs during the fall, allowing them to use more of their muscles to catch that falling mass and allowing it a greater distance of travel over which that catching force can be applied. Kinda like what an airbag does.
Also, cats are among the animals which give no outward sign of their pain. They could be quite hurt but wont show it unless the pain has physically maimed them.
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