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LiveScience
LiveScience
Marlowe Starling

How do cats land on their feet?

A time lapse of a falling orange cat.

When cats fall, they flip themselves rightside-up with seemingly little effort — which has perplexed scientists for decades. Our feline friends appear to defy the laws of physics by reconfiguring themselves mid-air without intervention from another force. So how do they do it?

Several factors affect how a cat is able to land on all fours, but simply put, there are two main forces at play: physics and neurology.

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