why do our legs tremble when we are frightened

Question

For example, standing on the edge of a cliff. Why do our knees buckle? What causing our legs to shake and go weak?
Shouldn’t our instincts do the opposite so we don’t have an accident by falling?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Shaky legs make us feel unsteady and unsafe. Feeling unsafe makes us want to move away from the edge of the cliff. Moving away from the cliff makes it less likely we’ll have an accident.

So trembling legs might be good for survival.