Washington
Post: The fluid dynamics of a cat lapping water is the
subject of a recent paper in
Science
. A group led by Roman Stocker, an associate professor of
civil and environmental engineering at MIT, conducted the
study. Not funded by a grant, the group members proceeded on
their own, solely for professional pleasure, prompted by
Stocker's observations of his own cat drinking, which always
kept its chin and whiskers dry in the process. While dogs curl
their tongue like a ladle to collect water, cats curve their
tongue under and touch the liquid lightly with the tip. They
then raise their tongue rapidly, sending a mini stream of water
up into their mouth, which they then snap shut. "The cat, in
effect, balances the forces of gravity against the forces of
inertia, and so quenches its thirst," as Marc Kaufman writes in
today's
Washington Post.
