image via – youtube.com
Have you ever thought about how animals drink water, specifically dogs? They certainly don’t pour it into a cup and gulp it down like many humans do. It looks like they simply lap it up with their tongues and that’s about it.
Man’s best friend is not the most elegant drinker either, they often make a mess and send water flying everywhere. Between that and how fast they down water, it’s impossible to tell what’s really going on when a dog takes a drink.
That’s where science and high tech video equipment come into play. Researchers from Virginia Tech wanted to see exactly how a dog drinks and so they decided to slow down the process a lot. With a special high speed camera, they recorded a bunch of thirsty dogs drinking from water bowls at 1,000 frames per second.
They presented their findings at a summit on fluid dynamics and what they discovered puts the whole process, and the mess dogs make when they drink, into perspective.
First, they observed the dogs slamming their tongues deep into the water. They would then curve their tongues into a backwards facing ladle shape that worked to essentially pull up some water. After that they would rip their tongues back towards their mouths crazy fast, so fast that researchers said the acceleration amounted to about five times that of gravity!
This caused a column of water to be suspended in the air and the dogs would basically bite down and catch it. Multiply that action by 100 and the dog ends up with a nice little drink of water. It all makes much more sense when you see it in action.
The accompanying video of an Alsatian dog drinking water from a bowl has been slowed down so that we can see every movement described above. As it turns out, how a dog drinks is not as simple as you probably assumed and the mess they make is because they’re slamming water and catching it!
Watch The Video Below and Enjoy! 🙂
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