Why Dogs Slobber More Than Cats When Drinking
- 10 years ago
A new study has revealed why canines produce so much slobber while drinking in comparison to felines. When a dog’s tongue is withdrawn from a bowl, it creates acceleration which is said to be about five to eight times more than gravity.
A new study has revealed why canines produce so much slobber while drinking in comparison to felines. When a dog’s tongue is withdrawn from a bowl, it creates acceleration which is said to be about five to eight times more than gravity.
That acceleration produces water columns that lead into a canine’s mouth. The shape of a dog’s tongue also plays a role in the backsplash effect.
The tip of the tongue is shaped similar to a ladle and when it is filled with water, dogs are required to open their mouths wider to consume their drink. The researchers used cameras to map canines’ tongues and then they created models of them from glass tubes.
The models allowed them to recreate the acceleration and column formation, as well as measure the amount of liquid withdrawn. They discovered that gravity allows a column of water to ‘pinch off’ and separate from a bowl of water.
Cats delicately dip their tongues into a bowl full of water while dogs are usually a lot more forceful when it comes to drinking.
The researchers note “When a dog drinks, it curls its tongue posteriorly while plunging it into the fluid and then quickly withdraws its tongue back into the mouth. During this fast retraction fluid sticks to the ventral part of the curled tongue and is drawn into the mouth due to inertia.”
The findings of the study were recently presented at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting in San Francisco.
A new study has revealed why canines produce so much slobber while drinking in comparison to felines. When a dog’s tongue is withdrawn from a bowl, it creates acceleration which is said to be about five to eight times more than gravity.
That acceleration produces water columns that lead into a canine’s mouth. The shape of a dog’s tongue also plays a role in the backsplash effect.
The tip of the tongue is shaped similar to a ladle and when it is filled with water, dogs are required to open their mouths wider to consume their drink. The researchers used cameras to map canines’ tongues and then they created models of them from glass tubes.
The models allowed them to recreate the acceleration and column formation, as well as measure the amount of liquid withdrawn. They discovered that gravity allows a column of water to ‘pinch off’ and separate from a bowl of water.
Cats delicately dip their tongues into a bowl full of water while dogs are usually a lot more forceful when it comes to drinking.
The researchers note “When a dog drinks, it curls its tongue posteriorly while plunging it into the fluid and then quickly withdraws its tongue back into the mouth. During this fast retraction fluid sticks to the ventral part of the curled tongue and is drawn into the mouth due to inertia.”
The findings of the study were recently presented at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting in San Francisco.