There are multiple cute little theories about cats, such as that they have 9 lives and that they always land on their feet.
In the case of one little black cat, both of these theories are proven true.
In Chicago Illinois, a building fire broke out and flames were engulfing the building.
Firefighters had been called and were on the scene trying to make sure that the fire wouldn’t spread more than it already had.
The building had been evacuated and the fire department was doing damage control to prevent things from getting any worse.
A video was taken showing the black smoke rolling out of windows, and other windows being smashed open when something unexpected appeared.
In the corner of the screen, a little black shadow appeared, and it was moving.
This turned out to be a cat who had been left behind in the building when the evacuation had been done.
The cat, clearly frightened of the smoke and fire around it, knew it needed to get out of the building.
For this little kitty, there was only one thing to do.
He checked the distance to the ground, saw that there was a safe place to land, and launched himself out of the window.
The cat flew through the air, down 5 stories, and landed with a little hop before walking away.
There were audible gasps from the surrounding crowd as the cat fell, but it seemed perfectly fine once it had landed.
Hopefully, he was able to reunite with his owners and got some tasty treats for the amazing courage and braveness he showed.
This isn’t the only instance where a cat has jumped from a great height and been perfectly fine.
One cat in Boston jumped 19 stories with no injuries, and another jumped a whopping 32 stories and came away with nothing more that a bruised belly.
The reason cats can do these things is because of their remarkable evolutionary and physiological biological makeup.
When they are in the wild, many cats find safety from predators in trees.
They have learned over time how to maximize their surface area in order to create an equal landing pad over all four paws, thus distributing the impact of the landing.
Dr. Jake Socha, a biochemist at Virginia Tech University has studied why cats can fall from such great heights with little or no ill effects.
“Being able to survive falls is a critical thing for animals that live in trees, and cats are one of them.”
While there is lots of evidence behind the amazing ability cats have to fall without being injured, because no scientists want to drop cats off buildings for research, there is very little exact knowledge of how they do this.
We may not be sure exactly how they do this, but luckily for the kitty in this story, he was able to save himself from the fire and go on to live the rest of his life (lives?).
Watch the brave cat jump to safety in the video clip linked below.
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