The cat righting reflex is a cat's innate ability to orient itself as it falls in order to land on its feet. The righting reflex begins to appear at 3–4 weeks of age, and is perfected at 6–9 weeks.[1] Cats are able to do this because they have an unusually flexible backbone and no functional clavicle (collarbone). The tail seems to help but cats without a tail also have this ability, since a cat mostly turns by moving its legs and twisting its spine in a certain sequence.[2]
While cats provide the most famous example of this reflex, they are not the only animal known to have a mid-air righting capability. Similar phenomenons have been observed in other small vertebrates such as rabbits,[3] rats,[4] lizards, and certain invertebrate tailed anthropods (e.g. stick insects).[5]
- ^ Sechzera, Jeri A.; Folsteina, Susan E.; Geigera, Eric H.; Mervisa, Ronald F.; Meehana, Suzanne M. (December 1984). "Development and maturation of postural reflexes in normal kittens". Experimental Neurology. 86 (3): 493–505. doi:10.1016/0014-4886(84)90084-0. PMID 6499990. S2CID 23606824.
- ^ Nguyen, Huy D. "How does a Cat always land on its feet?". Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Medical Engineering. Archived from the original on 2001-04-10. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
- ^ Schönfelder, J. (March 1984). "The development of air-righting reflex in postnatal growing rabbits". Behavioural Brain Research. 11 (3): 213–221. doi:10.1016/0166-4328(84)90213-4. ISSN 0166-4328. PMID 6721914 – via PubMed.
- ^ Yan, Xinping; Okito, Kazuyoshi; Yamaguchi, Takashi (March 2010). "Effects of superior colliculus ablation on the air-righting reflex in the rat". The Journal of Physiological Sciences. 60 (2): 129–136. doi:10.1007/s12576-009-0076-0. ISSN 1880-6562. PMC 10717533. PMID 20047100.
- ^ Jusufi, Ardian; Zeng, Yu; Full, Robert; Dudley, Robert (19 September 2011). "Aerial Righting Reflexes in Flightless Animals". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 51 (6): 937–943. doi:10.1093/icb/icr114. PMID 21930662 – via Oxford Academic.