4 ms·
> A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes. I had thought that cats could fall from any height safely, but that's not quite true: observational studi
by dmurray 6y ago
> A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.
I had thought that cats could fall from any height safely, but that's not quite true: observational studies suggest [0] they have a 50% or 90% survival rate from terminal-velocity height onto hard surfaces, but not without injury.
Still, I'd expect a rat could also "walk away". It's quite a lot smaller than a cat, though it may lack other evolutionary adaptations for falling. And a rat is a mouse, taxonomically: we just informally call the bigger species of mice rats.
[0] http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/domestic-cats-can-fall-from-any-height-with-a-remarkable-survival-rate/ http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/domestic-cat...
- Kye 6y agoThe dual taxonomy of so many animals is interesting. The line between a pigeon and a dove seems to be one of judgment, like with rats and mice. Or the slightly more distant mantis and roach.
- dmd 6y agoNot quite. http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatsMice.htm http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatsMice.htm http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatMouseHybrid.htm http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatMouseHybrid.htm
- stjohnswarts 6y agoa huge portion of that is that humans have a much worse weight to surface area ratio, cats hit at about 60mph and humans at 120 mph. very few humans survive falls in which they reached terminal velocity.
- skykooler 6y agoRats lack the long legs of cats that allow them to cushion their fall, though. Cats have a ton of adaptations that each help with some aspect of landing from a fall.