Is there less here than meets the tongue?

All of the news stories I’ve read about this odd bit of scientific research point out that it required no funding. Which probably is a good thing.

The New York Times, among other news organizations, reported this week that researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Princeton University have figured out how cats drink.

It turns out that cats lap water four times per second, which is faster than the human eye can see. But thanks to the magic of photography, we now know that a thirsty kitty “darts its tongue, curving the upper side downward so that the tip lightly touches the surface of the water,” according to the Times.

“The tongue is then pulled upward at high speed, drawing a column of water behind it.” Just as gravity begins to overcome the upward motion of the water by pulling it back down to the bowl, the cat snaps its jaws shut and swallows.

As a cat lover (my wife and I have four of the little beasties), I have to say I find this discovery to be decidedly underwhelming, despite the media hype. Now, if a bunch of researchers could explain why our cats are patient and forgiving enough to keep their claws retracted even when our dogs try to treat them like squeaky toys, that would be an achievement worth bragging about.