An experiment has confirmed the amazing flexibility of cats

Hungarian ethologist Peter Pongracz from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest conducted an experiment to find out whether cats are aware of their body size and consider themselves able to fit through anything like a "liquid".

Recall that in 2017, French physicist Marc-Antoine Fardin won the 2017 Schnobel Prize for his study "On the Rheology of Cats," where he argued that cats can be considered both solid and liquid because of their ability to take the shape of almost any vessel.

Pongracz's experiment involved 38 pet cats ranging in age from 8 months to 11 years.

The testing took place in home conditions. Special cardboard barriers with holes gradually decreasing in width and height were used for the experiment. The owners were on one side of the barrier, attracting the pets with food or a toy, and the cats had to decide whether they could pass through the hole.

The results showed that in front of narrow and tall openings, the cats had little hesitation and boldly pushed through, even if the opening was narrower than their rib cage.

This supports the idea that cats consider themselves able to pass through the narrowest of slits as "liquid". However, in front of low and wide openings, the animals often hesitated, stopped or looked for detours. This indicates that the vertical dimensions of an obstacle are more meaningful to cats than the horizontal dimensions.

Pongracz explained that cats, being ambush predators, are better adapted to climbing and jumping than crawling. As they lower themselves down, they may feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. So although cats are remarkably flexible, they are still aware of their physical limitations in certain situations.

The experiment confirmed the hypothesis that cats consider themselves to be "fluid" to a certain extent, but that they take their size into account depending on the type of obstacle.