Two-step spinal twist lets cats land on their feet, study finds
A 2026 study shows cats right themselves midair not with a single motion but via sequential trunk rotation: a flexible thoracic spine twists first, followed by a stiffer lumbar spine, enabling reorientation under angular momentum. Cadaver spines revealed the thoracic region has about three times the range of motion of the lumbar region and a thoracic neutral zone around 47 degrees, while lumbar spines had little to no neutral zone. In live tests, two cats dropped from about 1 meter showed the front half rotated about 70–90 milliseconds before the hind half. The researchers caution rib-cage cutting may affect measurements but findings align with earlier work and offer new insight into mammalian locomotion and agility; published in The Anatomical Record (2026).
