A housecat’s nearly 300 papillae hold a small amount of saliva that’s released when the tongue presses on fur, and then they wick up some more. The tongue’s surface is wetter.

What’s more, there are other types of papillae on the cat tongue still waiting to be dissected, says Sunghwan Jung, a bioengineer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University who did ...

The only exception was the Persian cat, whose tongue papillae just aren’t long enough to deal with their flowing luxurious coats. It turns out technique matters, too.

Papillae on a cat’s tongue are longer and have far more keratin — giving them the scratchy, dry feeling. The exact reason cat’s papillae look and feel so different is unknown, ...

By looking closely at cat tongues, research at MIT and Georgia Tech reveals clues to cats’ predatory prowess and finds inspiration for new technologies. Fur sticks to the cat’s tongue and is detangled ...

The papillae spread the saliva along the roots of each hair, allowing it to penetrate cats’ fur so that it can cool their skin. Saliva alone can provide 25 percent of a cat’s cooling needs ...

Cats, like humans, have small growths all over their tongues called papillae. Unlike humans, though, cat papillae turn out to be pointy, hollow half-pipes with U-shaped tips, shaped like cones.

The clip, which now has over 4.1 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed how a cat's tongue is covered in backwards facing spines, also called papillae.

LEWISTON — On a recent morning at Bates College, 19 students conducted an experiment that focused on one part of a furry feline’s body: the tongue and its capabilities.

CT scans of cats' tongues showed they're not covered in solid cones but in claw-shaped hooks. They lie flat and rear-facing, out of the way until, with a twitch of the tongue muscle, the little ...

WASHINGTON — Cat lovers know that when kitties groom, their tongues are pretty scratchy. Using high-tech scans and some other tricks, scientists are learning how those sandpapery tongues help… ...

Using high-tech scans and some other tricks, scientists are learning how those sandpapery tongues help cats get clean and stay cool. The secret: Tiny hooks that spring up on the tongue — with ...