A team of engineers, physicists and mathematicians conducted a three and a half year study to find out exactly how cats manage to move the milk from saucer to mouth, while keeping their chins dry in the process.

And far from simply slurping at the bowl, researchers at MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University say the technique exhibits “a perfect balance between two physical forces.”

It was known from a 1941 study that when they lap milk, cats extend their tongues in a backwards ‘J’ – meaning the top of their tongue touches the surface first.

But recent high speed footage has shown that the top surface is the only part of the tongue to touch the liquid – meaning that unlike in dogs, where the tongue is fully immersed and used as a ladle, a more refined technique is at work.

The tip of the cat’s tongue scarcely brushes the liquid’s surface before it is rapidly drawn back. This forms a column of milk between the tongue and the surface, which the cat captures by closing its mouth.

This column is created by a balance between gravity pulling the liquid back to the bowl, and inertia – the tendency of a substance to move in a given direction until another force intervenes.

Cats instinctively know how to strike this balance in order to time the lapping and to capture the liquid in their mouths, according to journal Science.

{ Telegraph | Continue reading }

photo { Todd Fisher }

animals, science | November 12th, 2010