Water drinking is like resource consumption: different organisms practice it differently

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 91

Animals drink water in different ways. Amphibians absorb water through their skin, so they don't ever need to drink. Most terrestrial animals don't need to drink either, as they take in sufficient water through eating succulent food (e.g. leafy plants). Cats and dogs lap up water by using their tongue as a spoon, though there is a difference: dogs seem to be using their tongue more directly as a spoon, while cats whip up the water and then catch it with their mouth.

Humans, in contrast, suck water up or pour it down their  throat, which makes their way of drinking much more efficient and the volume of liquid ingested much larger. In this drinking resembles resource consumption: while most organisms use resources in a diffuse way, humans like to conentrate their resource consumption, resulting in big gulps of water flowing down the throat.

Drinking (Source: Wikipedia)