Posted on 11/13/2010 3:34:15 AM PST by SonOfDarkSkies
It has taken four highly qualified engineers and a bunch of integral equations to figure it out, but we now know how cats drink. The answer is: very elegantly, and not at all the way you might suppose.
Cats lap water so fast that the human eye cannot follow what is happening, which is why the trick had apparently escaped attention until now. With the use of high-speed photography, the neatness of the feline solution has been captured.
...
Writing in the Thursday issue of Science, the four engineers report that the cat’s lapping method depends on its instinctive ability to calculate the point at which gravitational force would overcome inertia and cause the water to fall.
What happens is that the cat darts its tongue, curving the upper side downward so that the tip lightly touches the surface of the water.
The tongue is then pulled upward at high speed, drawing a column of water behind it.
Just at the moment that gravity finally overcomes the rush of the water and starts to pull the column down — snap! The cat’s jaws have closed over the jet of water and swallowed it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Better be careful. I said something negative about cats here once and by the time it was over, I was condemned to Hell.
I do as well. Probably the only reason I like him. Whenever the dogs are out for a walk he shows up. He also enjoys sleeping with the two dogs (who seem to have accepted him without a problem).
I do as well. Probably the only reason I like him. Whenever the dogs are out for a walk he shows up. He also enjoys sleeping with the two dogs (who seem to have accepted him without a problem).
LOL... I’ll tell him, he’ll get a kick out of that. :)
Maybe. But the article also says that this method allows them to drink without getting their chins wet. Considering how fastidious cats are, that could be a factor. Dogs, being slobs, don't care if their faces get wet.
Any "Maine Coon" cat in his ancestry?? This seems to be a breed attribute. All the pure-bred and mixed "Coons" we have had did the same.
“The New York Times continues to bring us news of great importance!
And you read it, and even posted about it.”
What is your point?
It just seems stupid to ridicule the New York Times for posting an article you consider to be of little importance, and then take the time to read it and comment on it.
If it was really so pointless, why not ignore it?
You should submit a bill to Brita for that study!
Velcro
ROTFLMAO... that one caught me off guard. Thanks for the chuckle. Tough luck if it ain't copyrighted, I'm using it! (I'll give you the credit though)
“If it was really so pointless, why not ignore it?”
I can’t ignore an article and read it at the same time. If I didn’t read it, how would I know it was trivial?
I have a girl cat, a dark tortie who puts her kibble in the water, like dunking cookies in milk. Interesting. =^..^=
I’ve had several cats over the years and at one time had five. I had two males, one since passed, the other moved on when my daughter brought home our, then, fourth. One day our neighbor walked out her front door and noticed the younger of our two males eyeballing a bird sitting in the grass. She figured when the cat made his move, the bird would just fly off. She then notice that while the bird was mesmerized by the one cat, our other male was stalking up behind the bird ready to pounce. The neighbor sort of spazzed and broke up the nature channel redux but I was really proud of my boy’s teamwork.
We've had a couple that would do that. Cute "smiley" BTW.
I may need a new wife soon.
My daughter has three ferrets.
Even "fixed", they smell up the whole basement.
Cheers!
But when it comes to cleaning the litter boxes, the cats are ALL MINE. LOL.
He will sometimes clean up their barf, or a puddle when the oldest one gets pissy about something, but he doesn't really do litterboxes, which means that I'm the chief miner of cat turds around here.
touchy, touchy
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