How Cats Lap

choi

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Carolyn J Johnson, Pet project; Scientists discover the intricacies of feline drinking. Boston Globe, Nov. 12, 2010.
http://www.boston.com/community/pets/articles/2010/11/12/scientists_discover_the_intricacies_of_feline_drinking/
("allowing them [cats] to swallow the maximum amount of water without wetting their whiskers")

My comment:
(a) Go see the graphic first.
(b) Nicholas Wade, The Science of Cat Lapping: a Big Gulp With a Tiny Touch of the Tongue. New York Times, Nov. 12, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/science/12cats.html?scp=1&sq=cat%20dog&st=cse
("The cat laps four times a second — too fast for the human eye to see anything but a blur — and its tongue moves at a speed of one meter per second")
(c) After reading both news reports, I was unaware how dogs lap. Scooping up water, all right. But does the tip of tongue, when protruding, curl backward or forwards?

Reis PM, Jung SW, Aristoff JM and Stocker R, How Cats Lap: Water Uptake by Felis catus. Science, _: _-_ (published Online Nov. 11, 2010).
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;science.1195421v1?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cat+lapping&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
(abstract)

Quote from the TEXT (as opposed to abstract):

"This sequence of events reveals two important aspects of how Felis catus [scientific name for domestic cat] laps. First, lapping does not rely on 'scooping' water into the mouth as in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Although the dog’s tongue also curls caudally in a cuplike shape, it penetrates the liquid surface and scoops up the water that fills its ventral side. In contrast, the cat's tongue does not dip into the liquid (Fig. 1B) and the cavity on its ventral side remains empty (Fig. 1, B and C), as also
recognized in a 1940 Oscar-winning short film.

(i) The ventral side of a tongue is the side we can not see easily, that faces down when the tongue is at rest (ie, not protruding). So like cats, dogs lap water with J-shaped tongues also.

(ii) There is no citation for dog lapping. Apparently, the authors made the observation themselves.

(iii) Two video clips of dog lapping

Time Warp - Dog Drinking (uploaded by DiscoveryNetworks, on Oct. 3, 2008).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ch2pNkZwU

Nina - (FILMED IN SLOW MOTION) Boxer dog sipping from a drinking fountain (
uploaded by JohnnyM02, on Apr. 28, 2010).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bN0AbS-1zo&feature=fvst


※ 修改:．choi 于 Nov 13 21:30:09 修改本文．[FROM: 129.10.0.0]