How Cats Drink Milk Without Getting Their Chins Wet

Telegrpah ^ | 11/11/10 | Richard Alleyne

[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.

[TheBigIf]

This video shows the precise method used scientifically during the tests by the MIT scientists....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LswR1zWpMTU&feature=player_embedded

[TheBigIf]

Here is another video used by the MIT science team showing a one cat (on the left in the video) who is a perfect scientific specimen and another (on the right in the video) who has some serious drug problems or something.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YliOUlmOIY8&feature=player_embedded

[CodeToad]

lol! So much for THAT theory! That cat was a slob!

We had a PixieBob that attacked milk. The entire bottom half of his head would be covered.

[silverleaf]

kitty bump

[Cvengr]

Look into his eyes and his talons and try to ask that out loud.

(Don't leave kitteh out by his lonesome in the area when the falcon is hunting. He can dive at up to about 40 knots and strikes the third vertebrae down on the rabbit he is targeting to paralyze it, then he grabs it with those talons, and proceeds to eat. He won't eat roadkill, but only something fresh he kills. He tends to look out at about 45 degrees from where his eyes are aimed, to within a 20 ft radius, then he shifts focus to direct targeting.)

[BunnySlippers]

Okay, you’re implying that falcons are carnivores. That is fine.

How do they chew the flesh with their beaks? Huh?

[Cvengr]

They are predators and I have observed them ripping the flesh out and leaving the bones and feathers of their prey. Small children, if they are quick, probably don’t have to worry. ;^)

[BunnySlippers]

Yeah, I Googled. BTW, my company logo is a falcon ...

I could find no photos on Google Images of a falcon eating meat. But clearly they attack animals.

I wonder what they really eat.

[piasa]

If dogs use theirs like a ladle, they're obviously getting more

No, they're not getting more but the floor always does.

[Mercat]

Your tax dollars at work.

[Cvengr]

They few bird and rabbit carcasses I’ve found, don’t have much left. They consume the fur and bird bones and guts and meat. Feathers and rabbit feet are left behind. Sometimes they just take the prey to their nests and feed their young with it.

Similar to Ospreys feeding on fish.

[LucyT]

[BunnySlippers]

Okay, gotta say it:

Dogs have masters
Cats have staff

[gitmo]

Compare it to the video of the dog drinking.

[piasa]

Looks more like a sharpie or coopers’ hawk than a falcon.

[BunnySlippers]

That’s informative.

Catz Rule!

[Slings and Arrows]

I knew the LHC would doom us all!

[Huntress]

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” —Leonardo Da Vinci

[Cvengr]

I think it’s a Mexican or Prarie Falcon.

There have been about 7 of them who have cycled through here in the last 6 yrs. They come by our back yard for brunch. They arrive like clockwork right at 9:10am for about 3 weeks, then a week gap then another time, about 12:20 steadily for a week.

Seen a mother and young falcon fly by about 2 ft off the ground, wingtip to wingtip through the canyon and perch here.

Some are better hunters than others.

I’ve been told by a local falconeer that they also see in infrared, so that when they perch, they are looking in the bushes for urine trails of rabbits and other small prey, then launch at anything that moves. They’ll also take out rattlers.

A Golden Eagle lives about a half mile away, but is too cramped to come into this smaller yard.

[freekitty]

LOL Not the most delicate drinker of milk.