Ever seen a cat leap to the cop of a tall bookcase — in a single bound? Then you may have wondered if felines have somehow figured out how to elude the laws of gravity.
It turns out they have. Sort of.
Using high-speed video of a cats lapping liquid, researchers at MIT and Princeton found that household cats, as well as tigers and other big cats, achieve a delicate balance between gravity and inertia as they imbibe liquids.
Scientists used to think cats used their tongues like a ladle, scooping the liquid into their mouths. But the video showed there’s no ladling effect. Instead the cat’s tongue darts in and out so quickly that the action forms a column of liquid.
The smooth tip of cat’s tongue “barely brushes the surface of the liquid before the cat rapidly draws its tongue back up.
“As it does so, a column of milk forms between the moving tongue and the liquid’s surface. The cat then closes its mouth, pinching off the top of the column for a nice drink, while keeping its chin dry.”
A cat instinctively knows just how quickly to lap, and exactly when to close its mouth to keep the liquid from spilling out of its mouth. Cats average about four laps per second, with each lap bringing in about 0.1 milliliters of liquid, the researchers said. Larger felines lap at a slower pace. Source
Cats bring a lot of fun and joy to your life. Why not adopt one today?
The kitties thank you!
How do I defy gravity like a cat and reject humanity to become a feline?(this is mostly a joke because I’m already part feline)