Cat survives fall from nine stories on Fort Myers Beach

[William769]

For the cat lovers here.

FORT MYERS BEACH: A stray cat believed to have fallen nine stories from the Estero Beach and Tennis Club survived.

"It was a loud crash," resident Carl Gallagher said.

The one-year-old female cat landed on the awning between the two towers, then jumped onto a nearby 2nd floor balcony. The cat fell more than 100 feet.

"I was amazed because it fell a long way because of the noise. I guess it was a good thing it didn't hit the bar on awning."

http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13851350

[jimmie]

1. Cats have an ability to right themselves

And when they land they distribute the weight on a fours.

[MN TN]

2. Nine stories - Nine lives?

Amazing story.

[lonestarnot]

3. Kiddleies. 1 down, 8 to go.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. OMG!!!! Now CATS are falling from the sky!!!!!!!!!!!!

[slackmaster]

8. I wish I could Rec this reply

:rofl:

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. hee hee....thanks.

[Codeine]

13. POLAR SHIFT!!

TRENDS! THE GUNS OF AUGUST!!!

[MineralMan]

5. After jumping to the balcony, the cat nonchalantly licked

itself, an unspoken "So? What? You've never seen a cat before?" on its face.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. Once a cat reaches terminal velocity, it relaxes...

A feline reaction to always land on its feet is widely considered a developed reflex. It's thought that, upon reaching terminal velocity, a cat's self-righting reflex relaxes because the cat can no longer perceive the forces resulting from acceleration. In effect, once terminal velocity is reached, the cat experiences weightlessness and this "tricks" the cat into relaxing. This relaxation is thought to both allow for less injury upon impact (the cat is less rigid) and also increase the drag which might slow the cat down.

A typical cat will reach terminal in about seven stories of freefall.

[notesdev]

7. I can only imagine

"A typical cat will reach terminal in about seven stories of freefall. "


how that fact was determined

Probably by a bunch of dog people.

[Edweird]

10. I bet there is a Gary Larson cartoon of it somewhere....

[mopinko]

12. cat are more likely to be killed in shorter drops.

up to about 3 floors and they don't have time to position themselves for the fall. i remember seeing this on a pbs show years ago. someone collected video of falling cats, from where i do not know. it was pretty interesting to see, tho.

[Booster]

9. I remember actress Lee Grant telling a similar story about her

cat. It went out of her NY apt window and fell many, many stories to the ground. When she finally got to him, she said he was just sitting there and his whole attitude was "I don't want to talk about it. It never happened." All the poor cat suffered was a chipped tooth.

[KittyWampus]

14. That cat needs to be x-rayed for spinal injuries.