( CNN ) -- While dogs slurp to alleviate thirst , cats display a mastery of physical dynamics that leaves their whiskers , chin and the counter top free of liquid , researchers found . Researchers spent hours watching a feline consume liquids in order to understand the forces . They also made a robotic version of a cat 's tongue and watched YouTube videos of big cats drinking . Using complicated formulas , the four-member team from Virginia Tech , the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University came up with their findings , detailed Thursday in the online journal Science . Here 's how a house cat , which averages about four laps per second , personifies daintiness while drinking . Cats extend their tongues straight down with the tip curled backward like a capital `` J '' to form a ladle , so that the top surface of the tongue touches the liquid first . `` The speed of the tongue is quite incredible , '' co-author Pedro M. Reis , an assistant engineering professor at MIT , told CNN . `` The smooth tip of the tongue barely brushes the surface of the liquid before the cat rapidly draws its tongue back up , '' said the researchers , who received no funding for the study . `` As it does so , a column of milk forms between the moving tongue and the liquid 's surface . The cat then closes its mouth , pinching off the top of the column for a nice drink , while keeping its chin dry . '' That column , they say , is a balance between gravity , which pulls the milk back toward the bowl , and inertia , which refers to the tendency of a liquid to continue moving in a direction unless another force interferes . Kitty knows how quickly to lap in order to balance these forces , according to the study , which drew on mathematics , fluid mechanics , physics and engineering . `` This suggests that cats are smarter than many people think , at least when it comes to hydrodynamics , '' writes co-author Jeffrey M. Aristoff of Princeton . Unlike humans , who can seal their cheeks to suck in liquids , dogs and cats rely on lapping , Reis said . A dog 's tongue in effect forms a little cup to scoop up water . `` Cats are far more complex , '' Reis said . Their tongues do n't pierce the surface of a liquid . Big cats do n't lap as rapidly as house cats , the scientists said , in part because their tongues are larger . `` Lions and tigers [ tongues ] will go about half [ the speed ] of house cats , '' said Roman Stocker , an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT . Reis and Stocker said one of the reasons they undertook the 3-year study was to apply the scientific method and rules of basic research about something scientists do n't understand . Results of the study also may have implications for soft robotics , they said . Stocker got the idea for the study after watching his cat Cutta Cutta lap milk . Cutta Cutta , which means `` stars stars '' in an Australian aboriginal language , is the subject of several videos and photos taken by the team . Asked whether Cutta Cutta is enjoying the celebrity from the release of the study , Stocker told CNN , `` I 'm not sure he realizes it . ''
Unlike dogs , cats do n't think when they drink , team finds . Cats show signs of physical control , balancing gravity and inertia , to drink . Results of four - member team were published in the online journal Nature .