WHY is this guy throwing this cat against the wall in microgravity?

Question

does it seem a bit cruel too you or is it just me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHOQNNOE8M

can't help but laugh about it though.

Answer 1

hey, thanks for that link.... didn't think I'd like seeing that, but I did.... poor cat... totally confused!!... LOL!>...

on that page is another neato video... Zero gravity water bubble.... way cool!!..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXsvy2tBJ...

Answer 2

ROFL!!!

Answer 3

Cruel?  Not the throwing (which seems at a low enough speed).

Taking a cat into zero g might be.  Even for humans.  You have this perpetual feeling of falling (exactly like being in an elevator when the wire breaks!).

Fun?  Yes.  The cat has a reflex system that "turns it around" so it can land feet first.  It is based on gravity.  No gravity? Then the reflex does not know which way is down, despite the visual clues (e.g., when the cat "falls" towards the wall).

Answer 4

It seems they're testing a cat's ability to right itself in free-fall, when there is no gravity reference.  Perhaps they wanted to see if it was a visual reference or something having to do with the cat's balance mechanism in the inner ear.

More revealing than the cat's contact with the wall is what it does *after* contact.  You'll notice that the cat desperately tries to right itself with orientation to the floor, strongly suggesting that the ability is due to visual orientation to the surface it is either closest to or traveling toward.

I do believe that just being in the weightless environment would be extremely stressful to an animal like a cat.  I hope they didn't subject it to that torment too long.  Their inability to rationalize the situation makes it far less entertaining or instructive for the cat than it is for humans.

Answer 5

Thanks for sharing that--I love cats and know that it wasn't PHYSICALLY harmed, but might be traumatized for at least one of it's nine lives!

Answer 6

who has to pay for all the therapy that poor cat has to go thru now?

Answer 7

I dont think he was throwing it hard enough.