How Are Cats Able to Land On Their Feet When They Fall?

My neighbor has a pet cat whose name is Mittens. The other day I saw Mittens fall off a six-foot-tall fence and still smoothly land on its feet.

Cats owe their nine lives to their unique skeletal structure and quick reflexes. The cat’s backbone (vertebrae) is made up of thirty individual bones, as compared to twenty-four in humans. These additional bones give them more flexibility to bend and arch their back during a short fall. On top of that, cats don’t have a collarbone, which is usually fragile and tends to break during a fall for other animals.

Cats have an advanced vestibular system, made up of several sensors inside the ear, which gives them a great sense of balance and a good gauge of their height in relation to the ground. During a fall, a cat quickly rotates mid-air to a safety posture by moving its face away from and brings its legs toward the ground. It keeps its legs spread out which creates resistance and slows its fall.