Fans of the old cartoon Tom and Jerry will be used to seeing the lengths a cat will go to in order to snare their prey.
However, this black and white cat – appropriately called Tom – provided a real-life example of feline hunting prowess when he leapt leaped up a pigeon from a distance of more than three feet.
In the CCTV clip, shot in Budva, Montenegro, he pounces on the bird in a courtyard before just prior to bundling it away in his mouth.
Tom’s feat is impressive, but it is actually not that unusual for your average cat.
A young, average-sized kitty can jump more than eight feet – about six times the average length, thanks to the extremely powerful muscles in their hind legs.
Their bodies are also adapted to survive when landing from great heights.
This is because cats in the wild will often hunt in trees, where they often sustain heavy falls after pouncing on prey from high branches.
Due to the relatively large surface area of their body in proportion to weight, they fall a bit slower than large animals such as horses and humans.
What his means is that they are less likely to injure themselves upon impact with the ground.
