For Cats, a Big Gulp With a Tiny Touch of the Tongue

By NICHOLAS WADE
NYT

It has taken four highly qualified engineers and a bunch of integral equations to figure it out, but we now know how cats drink. The answer is: very elegantly, and not at all the way you might suppose.

Cats lap water so fast that the human eye cannot follow what is happening, which is why their imbibing trick had apparently escaped attention until now. With high-speed photography, the neatness of the feline solution has been captured.

The act of drinking may seem like no big deal for anyone who can fully close the mouth to create suction, as people can. But species that cannot, which includes most carnivores, must resort to some other mechanism.

Dog owners are familiar with the disgusting lapping noises that ensue when a thirsty animal meets a pail of water. The dog is thrusting its tongue into the water, forming a crude cup with its tongue and hauling the liquid back into its muzzle.

(More here.)