Balancing

Perhaps one of the most unique feline characteristic is a cat's innate ability to balance itself and land on its feet when falling from a height. While not infallible, a falling cat is usually able to twist itself around to land on its paws. This is called the self-righting reflex. A kitten begins to demonstrate this reflex at 3-4 weeks of age and it is usually perfected by the time the kitten is seven weeks old. 

The vestibular apparatus of the inner ear of the cat contains 3 semicular canals. Like a carpenter's level, these structures work with the brain to sense and maintain balance. When a cat falls with its legs higher than its body, impulses from the vestibular apparatus are analyzed at lightening speed and combine with visual information to transmit a message to the cat's neck muscle to orient correctly. 

Because the cat has a highly flexible spine and floating collarbone, the head is able to twist into an up-right, horizontal position, independent of the rest of the body. Next the front feet rotate until they are facing the ground. Finally the hind legs swivel around until the cat has completely balanced itself in mid-air.

The hind legs touch down first, relaxing to act as shock absorbers. The spine arches to further minimize impact and the front legs relax to lessen the possibility of injury. Like a sky driver, a falling cat will reach a point in its fall where it is no longer accelerating. This is terminal or maximum velocity. The average cat reaches a speed of 60mph (100 km/h) after falling from 5 storeys high building. Small size, light bone structure, thick fur and spreading the legs to slow down the descent.

Once a cat has balanced itself, reached maximum velocity and is no longer receiving the stimuli to balance, it goes into 'free fall' and relaxes. The relaxed cat is less likely to sustain injury as it lands.   

Following is one of the most popular youtube  video about a jumping cat and how he balanced his body while falling. It was viewed by more than 2,000,000 viewer with more than 22 thousand likes!
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