We often say that cats have "nine lives." This sentence does not mean that the cat dies nine times to be really dead, but that the cat's survivability is very strong, and it is often used to describe those who have broken their luck and have been hit repeatedly and still stand firm.
So, let's look at why cats have so many lives.
First, let's start with the source of the cat.
In fact, the ancestors of cats came from the desert of ancient Egypt, and the earliest chinese documents of domestic cats appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, and before that, there was no trace of cats in various written records or murals, totems, etc.
The archaeological community once had such a speculation: our country's cat was brought into China by Zhang Qian during the Western Han Dynasty, when Zhang Qian went out to the Western Regions and brought them into China through trade with Persian merchants.
This is also why in the traditional chronology of our country, in the zodiac, there is no cat's share.
Whenever we mention ancient Egypt, we are always inextricably linked to many myths and legends, among which the ancient Egyptians raised cats, and they had the supreme respect for cats.
The Egyptian cat was the embodiment of the luna god Bastet in ancient Egypt. Bastet is a goddess with a cat's head, the daughter of the sun god RA, symbolizing beauty and harmony, and is the protector of the family who brings music, dance and love to people. Because the pupils of the cat change with the light, like the round deficiency of the moon, Baste is also dipped in the light of the cat and is called the moon goddess.
In China, a new legend about cats was born, the story of the nine-tailed cat.
Legend has it that every twenty years of cultivation in the world, cats will grow one more tail, and when they have nine tails, they will be able to cultivate into immortals.
But the Immortal Realm stipulates: When the cat cultivates to the eighth tail, it must help the owner realize a wish, and after the wish is completed, a new tail will grow, but the previous tail will also fall off, still eight tails...
It seemed like an endless cycle, and it was impossible to cultivate to the nine tails no matter what, until an eight-tailed cat met its owner. Out of gratitude for the company of the eight-tailed cat, the owner made a wish "I hope you can have nine tails", so the eight-tailed cat grew a gorgeous ninth tail and eventually cultivated into a fairy.
Of course, these are all illusory myths and legends. Let's get back to the point, why can cats have "nine lives"?
We often see small videos online of cats jumping from a very high place or accidentally falling down, almost unscathed; if they were human, they might have been injured long ago.
From anatomical point of view, the cat's spine vertebral body spacing is large, interspersed with very elastic fibrochondrite, so the cat's body is very soft, very flexible.
Therefore, in the process of falling from a high place, whether it is a back to the ground or any other strange posture, the cat can rely on rotating the spine in the air, adjust the landing posture in time, and even do a 180 ° rotation in the air to achieve "spinal movement" to ensure that the limbs land on the ground, and use the soft meat pad under the claw as a buffer to increase the survival rate of the high-altitude fall.
At the end of the 19th century, with the maturity of camera technology, French scientist Mare took the lead in discovering the "ridge rotation movement" of cats, and fully observed the behavior of the cat's body during the fall through a high-speed camera.
On the other hand, the cat's well-developed balance system is also its "protective armor". Among them, the vestibular system hidden behind the head plays a huge role, and scientific research shows that the vestibular system of all extant cats accounts for about 32.4% of the average volume of the inner ear, and it is this unique structure that makes the cat able to maintain the head posture and visual stability well during movement.
In addition, the cat's eyebrows, beard, and even pupils are all measuring meters of its distance, especially its long tail, which is like the wings of an airplane, allowing the cat to quickly maintain its balance during the descent.
Therefore, it is precisely because of the developed motor nerves, light and soft bone system, and super balance ability that cats can have the first-class climbing ability among domestic animals, even if it is "jumping over the ridge", it is a breeze for cats.
This reminds me of a story I heard when I was a child: the cat was a teacher to the tiger, and after all 36 tricks were handed over to the tiger, the tiger wanted to eat the cat, and the cat was frightened to sneak up the tree - it turned out that the cat did not give the tiger the unique job of going up the tree.
According to archaeological records, cats in the primitive natural world lived in trees at the beginning, slept during the day, and came out to hunt at night.
But the above only shows that the cat can use the flexibility of the body to protect itself, which does not mean that we can throw the cat out of the building at will, nor worry that it will not fall to death.
Some people counted 132 cases of cats falling from height between 1998 and 2001, and found that although the survival rate of cats after falling from the building was as high as 96.5%, they all had different degrees of internal injuries, such as limb fractures, head bleeding, traumatic dislocations, pneumothorax, shock, etc., which can also be life-threatening.
Therefore, whether cats really have "nine lives" is not only related to the height of the floor, but also closely related to the hardness of the ground, environmental conditions, and their own weight and reaction ability.
Although the saying that "cats have nine lives" has been passed down to this day, after all, it is only a small kitten, and it only lives once. So, shovelers, be kind to the kittens around you, how do you know this is not its "last life"