Dog drinking video below:
This research doesn’t really have any useful application – It’s JUST FUN
The next time you get all uptight about your dog being a slob and making a mess on the kitchen floor when he drinks water, stop a minute and think all the science that’s involved in this simple everyday exercise.
Scientists at Virginia Tech recorded 19 dogs of different breeds and sizes and concluded this is an “example of a nonlinear interaction between a soft body (the animal’s tongue) and a fluid” and a total force of 8G is involved in the lapping process. Now don’t be alarmed your dog doesn’t know that and you don’t have to either. It just might come up in a family reunion and you’ll be the only one to have all the facts. Now you know.
According to research conducted by Dr. Sunghwan Jung of Virginia Tech and his team, “animals with incomplete cheeks (i.e. dogs and cats) need to move fluid against gravity into the body by means other than suction. They do this by lapping fluid with their tongue.
What’s interesting, as the New York Times points out in this article and video, is that the force expended by a larger dog lapping water is up to eight times the force of gravity (it’s less in little dogs).
Liz
(source: nytimes.com – screenshot image from the same video – woofipedia.com – article)
