Results: Animals Drinking
Published on 04/22/2019
During a study in which I was reviewing the story of Gideon and his army preparing to defeat the Midianites from the book of Judges in the Bible, Gideon was told to reduce the number of his soldiers by watching how they drink at the stream. His instructions were to send the men home who “lapped up the water like a dog”. This meant those that put their face to the water and drank, because it’s impossible for people to drink *exactly* like a dog. In my follow up research, I found an interesting difference between the way dogs and cats drink…
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1.
1.
If you have a dog, were you aware that they actually flip their tongue backwards and use it as a ladle to draw the water up to their mouths?
Yes
37%
866 votes
No
36%
847 votes
Not Applicable
27%
626 votes
2.
2.
Cats on the other hand, use a property of physics to drink. Were you aware of the 'column of water' that cat's make with their tongue?
Yes
25%
584 votes
No
75%
1755 votes
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3.
With further research, I found that horses drink by sticking their whole nose in the water and using their mouth as a straw, sucking the water up to their throat. Were you aware that horses drank this way?
Yes
26%
612 votes
No
74%
1727 votes
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4.
So bats drink nectar from flowers using their tongue in a remarkable way. Scientists still aren't sure exactly how they do it, but as the video above shows, they think bats' tongues work somewhat like a conveyor belt to draw the liquid into their mouths. Did you know bats have such a unique method of drinking?
Yes
13%
295 votes
No
87%
2044 votes
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5.
Hummingbirds can only drink nectar when the tip of their tongue is immersed in it, an August 2015 study found. The organ works like a tiny elastic micropump to slurp up 14X its body weight in nectar every day. Did you know hummingbirds had such a complex method of drinking nectar?
Yes
25%
589 votes
No
75%
1750 votes
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6.
Giraffes can have difficulty reaching low enough to get a drink. Had you ever considered that drinking could be so complicated for a giraffe?
Yes
46%
1082 votes
No
54%
1257 votes
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