Scientists reveal the secret of a cat's lap

It is a mystery that has long puzzled cat lovers: exactly how do their feline companions lap up liquids so elegantly? Now, with the help of high-speed cameras and a pet cat, a team of researchers think they have the answer. They found that cats use their tongues to delicately draw up water without breaking the surface of the liquid. The scientists, who published their study in the journal Science, say this differs from dogs, who employ a messy scooping action to quench their thirst.

The team thinks cats may have adopted this more complex but neater approach because it means they are less likely to be splashed with water as they drink. Dr Roman Stocker, a biophysicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, was inspired to investigate the physics of cat laps after watching his own pet Cutta Cutta as it drank. "I realised there was an interesting biomechanics problem hidden behind that very simple action. The project then snowballed from there," he said.



Working with researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Princeton University, Dr Stocker trained a high-speed camera on his cat. While humans and animals such as sheep or horses use suction to draw liquid upwards, and dogs curl their tongue into a cup-like shape to ladle liquid in, the footage revealed that cats use a more subtle mechanism to drink. The scientists found that the tip of the cat's tongue curls backwards, not forwards, as it darts down towards its bowl.

Then, instead of penetrating the surface of the liquid, the tongue just lightly touches it. Dr Stocker explains: "The fluid comes in contact with the tongue and sticks to it, then the action of the tongue being drawn upwards very rapidly creates a liquid column. Then, by closing its jaw, the cat captures part of that liquid." Surprisingly, the researchers also found that the tiny hairs on the tongue, which were once thought to help cats lap, were not involved at all in the process.