A cat somehow managed to survive a huge fall after jumping from a burning building. The astonishing moment was captured on video and shared by the fire department.
The incident happened in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood where the cat was trapped in the apartment on the fifth floor. The shocking video shows a cat leaping out of the window.
A loud scream from a witness can be heard shortly after the jump. This was followed by the cat landing on it’s feet, and then walking away seemingly unscathed! The old saying of cats have 9 lives probably comes to mind.
Check out the amazing video below.
So how did this cat survive such a high fall? Cats bodies are actually built to survive very high falls. Let’s take a look at some facts:
- Cats Evolved: Cats evolved to live in trees which allowed their bodies to survive from such high falls.
- Large Surface Area: In comparison to their weight, cats have a large surface area which helps them to reduce force as they land.
- Springy Legs: Cats have muscular, springy legs that act as shock absorbers which reduces force and prevents them from breaking bones. This is the reason that a cat can also jump up to 6x their height.
- Terminal Velocity: A cats terminal velocity is a lot slower than a humans. Studies have shown that it can take the equivalent of five stories for a cat to reach terminal velocity. This means that even if they jumped from higher up than five stories, they would not continue to accelerate. For a cat, the terminal velocity is around 60mph, in comparison to a human which is 120mph.
Even though this explains a cats ability to survive high falls, as a cat owner, this doesn’t stop my heart racing or eliminate the shock factor each and every time I watch this video of the cat jumping from the burning building!
Have you watched the video? How did it make you feel? Let us know your thought’s in the comments.
