by Matthew Cobb
It’s not Saturday yet, but it’s never too early for a cat video. This popped up in my Twitter stream from evolutionary biologist David Winter (aka @TheAtavism) from NZ (follow him! Visit his blog!). Some lovely slo-mo footage of a rather fetching tabby leaping up for clothes pegs…
Cat video film festival coming soon! If you want to read about it, go to the squidly blog. You know the one I mean.
No need. Here are the links:
http://blogs.walkerart.org/mnartists/2012/05/31/internet-cat-video-film-festival-on-open-field/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18795123
It’s curious how the cat obviously over-reaches. Rather than putting his paws directly on the toy, he puts his forearm-equivalents on the toy, and then reaches in with his paws.
That’d be a lousy way to catch a baseball, but something tells me that it’s a far superior way to catch a bird.
b&
I also thought it was interesting that, after first discovering he couldn’t reach the toy from the ledge (around the 1:10 mark), the cat actually went back down to the floor to leap up and catch it. That was a much more demanding leap, so I am curious why he would make that decision. Perhaps it allowed him to gauge the height better for the landing?
prolly because there’d be no way to do it without hitting a wall or landing on something painful – smart cat!
My guess is that jumping from the ledge at an angle does not let him feel where he is going to land, hitting the wall, etc…
Jumping straight from the floor is less hazardous, as he knows where he is landing.
It’s not the jump that oncerns the cat,but the fall and the landing.
without letting the prey go free.
Exactly. I had a kitty that had been de-clawed, and Bandit would catch flies 3 or 4 feet off the ground.
Landings varied. If he missed the fly, it was a little better. If he had a fly between his front paws, hanging on to the fly took precedence over a graceful landing.
Exactly. Just where would the other end of the parabola be?
That is a very athletic and determined kitteh.
Incredible!