Posted on 11/11/2010 5:38:25 PM PST by BunnySlippers
And far from simply slurping at the bowl, researchers at MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University say the technique exhibits "a perfect balance between two physical forces".
It was known from a 1941 study that when they lap milk, cats extend their tongues in a backwards 'J' meaning the top of their tongue touches the surface first.
But recent high speed footage has shown that the top surface is the only part of the tongue to touch the liquid meaning that unlike in dogs, where the tongue is fully immersed and used as a ladle, a more refined technique is at work.
The tip of the cat's tongue scarcely brushes the liquid's surface before it is rapidly drawn back. This forms a column of milk between the tongue and the surface, which the cat captures by closing its mouth.
This column is created by a balance between gravity pulling the liquid back to the bowl, and inertia the tendency of a substance to move in a given direction until another force intervenes.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The sandpaper quality to their tongue lets cats get more water per unit area. Dogs lose a lot of water doing the ladle thing.
Plus the sandpaper tongue is really burrs on the tongue and help them groom their coats all day.
Cats are smart. :)
...after a hard day,I poke myself in da eye with straws
Was this a government grant?
What I’ve never been able to figure out is how the cats manage to collect water in their mouths and keep lapping between swallows.
*lap*lap*lap*lap*lap*lap*lap*swallow*lap*lap*lap*lap*lap*lap*swallow*....
Was that the Black Sheep Squadron?
Martinis and straws are a recipe for disaster.
Seems to me the degenerate DC WASHINGTONIANS ought to throw a FEW HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS at this.
Good point.
This is going to keep me awake for weeks.
Slow motion video of cat drinking water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EXd-W_GCoI
Thanks for posting that. You can really see the backwards “J”.
Right.. Because Darwin said cats and dogs have to drink the same way for all his observations to make sense?
CATS RULE DOGS DROOL
I think that is the funniest picture I have ever seen!
I tried to take a photo of this falcon drinking, but I don't think he liked me photographing him drinking, so he gets to drink anyway he wants to drink. He usually lets a dove drink first. Then he eats the dove.
Falcons are carnivores?
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