Science explains why cats are so much neater drinkers than dogs
The first thing you might notice from this story is that multiple scientists at multiple universities study how domestic pets consume liquids. "Three years ago, we studied how cats drink," biomechanics engineer Sunny Jung explains with refreshing candor. "I was curious about how dogs drink, because cats and dogs are everywhere."
Jung, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, and his fellow researchers are presenting their findings on "How Dogs Drink Water" at the American Physical Society's fluid dynamics division meeting in San Francisco. Neither cats nor dogs can suck in liquids, since they have "incomplete cheeks" — the better to catch prey with their jaws — so they rely on gravity-defying tongue action to move liquid into their mouths.
Cats, previous research has shown, use the tip of their tongues to pull up a neat column of water, then snap their mouths to drink it. "When we started this project, we thought that dogs drink similarly to cats," Jung said in a press release. "But it turns out that it's different, because dogs smash their tongues on the water surface — they make lots of splashing — but a cat never does that." Dogs not only use a broader surface of their tongues than cats, but it turns out that bigger dogs use more of their tongues — and thus make a bigger splash and a bigger mess — than smaller dogs.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You can watch a video of a dog drinking, plus the physics behind it and impressive modeling the researchers used, below or at the researchers' presentation page. And Discovery News has video clips of a cat and dog drinking in slow motion, for comparison purposes. --Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
7 drinks for every winter need possible
The Week Recommends Including a variety of base spirits and a range of temperatures
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
'We have made it a crime for most refugees to want the American dream'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Was the Azerbaijan Airlines plane shot down?
Today's Big Question Multiple sources claim Russian anti-aircraft missile damaged passenger jet, leading to Christmas Day crash that killed at least 38
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published