Other Animal (But Non-Buggy) Crackers

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Splat

Debunked: Evil researchers drop cats out of highrises to see how they fall.

Documented: Cats land on their feet, except when falling from a great height, when they "parachute" instead; this means they can survive a very long fall.

A 1987 article in Journal of the American Veterinary Association reviewed the cases of falling cats the authors had seen.They found that the severity of injuries increased with the distance fallen, until a certain point (about 7 stories) at which point the severity levelled off, and the nature of the injuries changed. They proposed that when cats reach their terminal velocity, they stop trying to land on their feet and instead spread out, like a parachuting squirrel; this means they are less prone to get broken bones, more prone to get internal injuries, and with treatment equally likely to survive. (One cat fell 32 floors and survived.) Reference: JAVMA 191(11):1399-1403 (1987). High-rise syndrome in cats. Wayne O. Whitney, DVM, and Cheryl J. Mehlhaff, DVM

Documented: The same is apparently not true for dogs.

JAVMA 202(1):118-122 January 1, 1993. High-rise syndrome in dogs: 81 cases (1985-1991). Lori E. Gordon, DVM; Christopher Thatcher, DVM; Amy Kapatkin, DVM

References:

• Highrise dogs