BobCo,

I think you touched on the critical question. Can a deer fall faster than the acceleration of gravity? I understand that muscles contract rapidly, but there has to be something for the muscle to push or pull against to cause a body part to go in a particular direction. Without that, the deer's feet would simply be pulled up, in reaction to the muscle contraction. If the deer had suction cups on his feet I could fully understand the body falling faster than the accleration of gravity. However, whenever I see videos of deer dropping to jump, the animal appears to simply fall straight down. What would they be pushing off of in order to fall faster? Maybe they can fall faster than what gravity would allow, but the mechanics of it is not something I can figure. Maybe you can explain in detail how this works.