Cats Lapping Caught on Video
Few would even think of studying the science of cat lapping–you know the act of felines drinking milk. But biophysicst Dr. Roman Stocker at MIT started his research after watching his cat one morning lap water from his bowl.
Then MIT researchers made high-speed videos that offer insight into the way that cats drink — a phenomenon so fast it cannot be followed by human eyes. The key question they were trying to answer is how do cats overcome gravity when lapping milk or water?
Unlike a dog, the cat does not use its tongue like a ladle to scoop its drink. Instead, the inertia with which the cat retracts the surface of its tongue pulls up a column of liquid. In the instant that the column of liquid is suspended, the cat closes its mouth around it. The perfect timing allows the feline to quench its thirst without wetting its furry chin. The results were published in the Nov. 11 online edition of the journal Science.
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