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The ability for cats to fall on their feet is an extremely useful ability and has been researched quite extensively.
Cat image via Shutterstock
What is most intriguing about cats always landing on their feet is that they can do so from being held at rest upside down. Simply put, if the cat is dropped upside down it will seemingly rotate and land on its feet.
This phenomenon of cats falling has been dubbed: "The Righting Reflex".
How exactly does this reflex work?
Taking into consideration the physiology of the cat, there are two major areas to look at. The first being its sense of balance. The cat has a very sensitive inner ear system and is very adept and knowing up from down. Second is the fact that have a very flexible backbone which allows them to bend. Coupling these two together allows use the Righting Reflex. After the cat is first dropped it has an axis of rotation perpendicular to the direction of travel. The way the cat circumvents this without breaking any laws of physics is to arch its back, changing the axis of rotation into two axes of rotation parallel to the direction of travel. This allows the cat to flip and inevitably land on the ground feet first.
Etienne Jules Marey, 1894
The first experiment that discovered the "Righting Reflex" was done by a French scientist named Etienne Jules Marey in the 1890's