The "tail" of the flying kitty

S

silviasol

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I was out riding tonight and while going up one of those spiraling freeway walkway bridges I see some kind of animal's eyes from my headlamp. It starts to head up the spiral bridge so I followed it thinking it was a fox that I had seen in the area before, I get to the top and it must have thought it would make a better escape jumping off the bridge rather then running across the entire ramp so the cat leaps up onto the ledge and jumps off without any regret. Seconds later I hear a large thud, which did sound like it landed on all fours just bottomed out real good. Stood there in shock for a second that it would jump from atleast 30 maybe 40 feet but then looked over and didn't see it keeled over so I guess it was able to run off unharmed. Went back a little later to check out the area from the first level of the spiral just to be sure and pretty sure it made a clean escape. Lol.
 
8 more lives to go... :lol:

Can't say the same with the bird I saw fly head first into my high rise building the other day. I blame the large amount of clear/reflective windows that reflect the sky's color back. :(
 
r3volved said:
Cats have a non-fatal terminal velocity. Counter-intuitively, the higher the fall, the better the chance of survival
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Is that true? You mean I cat can jump out of a plane without a parachute? [youtube]nqBZZbZJLmw[/youtube]
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex
A falling cat's terminal velocity is 100 km/h (60 mph) whereas that of a falling man in a "free fall position" is 210 km/h (130 mph).
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With their righting reflex, cats often land uninjured. However, this is not always the case, since cats can still break bones or die from extreme falls. In a 1987 study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of 132 cats that were brought into the New York Animal Medical Center after having fallen from buildings, it was found that the injuries per cat increased depending on the height fallen up to seven stories, but decreased above seven stories.[8] The study authors speculated that after falling five stories the cats reached terminal velocity and thereafter relaxed and spread their bodies to increase drag.
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Feline high-rise syndrome: 119 cases (1998–2001): http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/6/5/305
 
Here is the jump!
cat-1.png~original
 
Nehmo said:
r3volved said:
Cats have a non-fatal terminal velocity. Counter-intuitively, the higher the fall, the better the chance of survival
Click to expand...
Is that true? You mean I cat can jump out of a plane without a parachute? [youtube]nqBZZbZJLmw[/youtube]
Click to expand...
That cat was so passive in the plane but as soon as it saw it was heading out the door it started kicking its legs around like crazy, lol.

I guess a cat couldn't make it out of a plane, but I wonder if a Sugar Glider possum could glide all the way down from 10,000 feet in the air. I guess it would have to be a test for Mythbusters evil deeds edition.
 

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Speed Kills Range, 10mph = 46 miles range, 15mph = 30 miles range, 20mph = 20 miles range, 25mph = 13 miles range, 30mph = 8 miles range http://bit.ly/1avtI5Y

True, true. I went from 9/76 to 13/76 gear ratio on my scooter and could not believe the range drop! Love the speed though.
 
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