Cats’ tongues use physics to drink water!

When people drink water, they might use a straw, a glass, or even their hands to drink. Dogs use their tongue like a ladle to scoop up water, and elephants suck up water with their trunks.

Cats, both domestic and wild, use an interesting method that takes advantage of the unique properties of water. It’s called liquid adhesion. Water molecules are polar, attracting them to one another. As a result, this gives water its high surface tension and makes the droplets round.

When cats drink, they extend their tongues down, toward the surface with the tip curled backward. This allows the top of the tongue to touch the liquid first. Water then sticks to the surface of the tongue. As the cat draws it back up into its mouth, a column of liquid forms between the moving tongue and the liquid’s surface. The cat closes its mouth over the column, grabbing some of the water without having to get its face wet!