Evolution
Drink Him Off, Keyboard Cat: How Cats (and Dogs) Lap
Drinking water may seem like a simple enough task, but if one stops to
consider the different facial structures of different animals and the
different environments they live in it is easy enough to realize that
animals have evolved various methods of ingesting water. Animals that do
not have complete cheeks (unlike humans, horses, and pigs for
example) are unable to create suction with their lips and mouth. Many
of these animals depend on their tongues to move water to their mouths.
If you have a furry feline friend at home you probably know they drink
water by lapping at the surface, quenching their thirst without slopping
water all over the place. In a study in 2010 scientists recorded for
the first time how exactly cats manage this feat.
The cat’s
“toothed” tongue has many long tooth-like keratin fibers towards the
back that gives the feline tongue its rough texture. These fibers on the
tongue were thought to be needed for drinking and it was assumed they
were involved in helping the tongue scoop up water. Investigators at MIT
showed that this is not the case; only the tip of the tongue is needed,
and what drinking cats rely on is actually the liquid’s inertia. They
draw up a column of liquid by touching the liquid surface with the front
of the tongue, quickly retracting the tongue, then biting down on the
liquid column before gravity can let it fall back into the bowl. Lapping
at the speed of 1 meter/second, the investigators found that cats lap
at precisely the optimum speed in order to maneuver the most liquid into
their mouths. The investigators also asked if lapping is a conserved
behavior among felines, and tested if the lapping frequency would be
dependent on the feline’s body mass, as hypothesized. When the lapping
behavior of a variety of felines was studied, their prediction was found
to be true.
Last year, it was determined that our canine
friends drink water in exactly the same way as cats. Only they manage to
be just a little messier!
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
http://
http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://
Photo Credit:
Pedro Reis
Drink Him Off, Keyboard Cat: How Cats (and Dogs) Lap
Drinking water may seem like a simple enough task, but if one stops to consider the different facial structures of different animals and the different environments they live in it is easy enough to realize that animals have evolved various methods of ingesting water. Animals that do not have complete cheeks (unlike humans, horses, and pigs for
Drinking water may seem like a simple enough task, but if one stops to consider the different facial structures of different animals and the different environments they live in it is easy enough to realize that animals have evolved various methods of ingesting water. Animals that do not have complete cheeks (unlike humans, horses, and pigs for
example) are unable to create suction with their lips and mouth. Many
of these animals depend on their tongues to move water to their mouths.
If you have a furry feline friend at home you probably know they drink water by lapping at the surface, quenching their thirst without slopping water all over the place. In a study in 2010 scientists recorded for the first time how exactly cats manage this feat.
The cat’s “toothed” tongue has many long tooth-like keratin fibers towards the back that gives the feline tongue its rough texture. These fibers on the tongue were thought to be needed for drinking and it was assumed they were involved in helping the tongue scoop up water. Investigators at MIT showed that this is not the case; only the tip of the tongue is needed, and what drinking cats rely on is actually the liquid’s inertia. They draw up a column of liquid by touching the liquid surface with the front of the tongue, quickly retracting the tongue, then biting down on the liquid column before gravity can let it fall back into the bowl. Lapping at the speed of 1 meter/second, the investigators found that cats lap at precisely the optimum speed in order to maneuver the most liquid into their mouths. The investigators also asked if lapping is a conserved behavior among felines, and tested if the lapping frequency would be dependent on the feline’s body mass, as hypothesized. When the lapping behavior of a variety of felines was studied, their prediction was found to be true.
Last year, it was determined that our canine friends drink water in exactly the same way as cats. Only they manage to be just a little messier!
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
http://
http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://
Photo Credit:
Pedro Reis
If you have a furry feline friend at home you probably know they drink water by lapping at the surface, quenching their thirst without slopping water all over the place. In a study in 2010 scientists recorded for the first time how exactly cats manage this feat.
The cat’s “toothed” tongue has many long tooth-like keratin fibers towards the back that gives the feline tongue its rough texture. These fibers on the tongue were thought to be needed for drinking and it was assumed they were involved in helping the tongue scoop up water. Investigators at MIT showed that this is not the case; only the tip of the tongue is needed, and what drinking cats rely on is actually the liquid’s inertia. They draw up a column of liquid by touching the liquid surface with the front of the tongue, quickly retracting the tongue, then biting down on the liquid column before gravity can let it fall back into the bowl. Lapping at the speed of 1 meter/second, the investigators found that cats lap at precisely the optimum speed in order to maneuver the most liquid into their mouths. The investigators also asked if lapping is a conserved behavior among felines, and tested if the lapping frequency would be dependent on the feline’s body mass, as hypothesized. When the lapping behavior of a variety of felines was studied, their prediction was found to be true.
Last year, it was determined that our canine friends drink water in exactly the same way as cats. Only they manage to be just a little messier!
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
http://
http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://
Photo Credit:
Pedro Reis
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