Cats are so flexible that a 2014 study half-jokingly investigated whether felines are liquids. But joking aside, traditional fluid mechanics can’t explain the impressive contortions kitties can take when squeezing through small holes. So how do cats pull off these feats?
The key to cats’ ability to apparently “flow” like fluids through tiny gaps is their unique shoulder girdle. In humans, the shoulder girdle is composed of the shoulder blades, or scapulas; and the collarbones, or clavicles, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
The shoulder blades and the collarbones are connected together in humans. The resulting shoulder girdle provides rigid support for the muscles of the arms, the NCBI noted.
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