Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
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Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
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Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#2Knowing this, when my cats desire something sweet that I was eating, I have always assumed they wanted something else they tasted in the food -- if ice cream, then the cream, etc.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#3For some reason, I had always assumed there were a number of mammals that didn't care much for sweets, even though in retrospect I know that ferrets, also carnivores, will obsess over sweet drinks.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#4Evolutionarily, this makes sense. All felids are obligate carnivores that rely on meat for nutrients—for example, they need taurine for vision, which they can't synthesize and is only found in meat. So there's an evolutionary advantage for cats to not want to eat anything else.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#5Makes me wonder if this is just a result of genetic drift and/or bottlenecking. They clearly have no need for it, and are very specialized killers, but it being so widely present in mammals tells us that it's not really a costly gene to have.
I found the part about being able to register ATP interesting, as controlling for ATP is one of the most common techniques used to control the quality of hygiene in food production buildings and equipment. I don't know how this applies to nature where you would expect this to be found everywhere, but maybe it's valuable in deserts, snowy areas and similar? Or maybe higher than usual levels can be used to identify areas where rodents and other sources of food could be found?
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#6For some reason, I had always assumed there were a number of mammals that didn't care much for sweets, even though in retrospect I know that ferrets, also carnivores, will obsess over sweet drinks.
There are a few related species to ferrets, like sables and pine martens, that are omnivores and will eat berries and whatnot.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#7Knowing this, when my cats desire something sweet that I was eating, I have always assumed they wanted something else they tasted in the food -- if ice cream, then the cream, etc.
Mine loves cantaloupe. I’m curious which part of that she likes other than the sweetness.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#8This leaves me with more questions as I have a cat that absolutely will not leave you alone if you're holding ANY fruit. She will cry and whine and do all she can to get to that fruit. Apple, plum, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, melons, it doesn't matter. She goes especially nuts for dragonfruit.
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#9Evolutionarily, this makes sense. All felids are obligate carnivores that rely on meat for nutrients—for example, they need taurine for vision, which they can't synthesize and is only found in meat. So there's an evolutionary advantage for cats to not want to eat anything else.
> All felids are obligate carnivores
I think you meant "felines".
[UPDATE] Nope, the OP meant felids (though my old eyes parsed it as "fields" (never heard of a "felid" before) which is why I thought it was spell checking or voice recognition gone wrong).
Re: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (2007)
#10Evolutionarily, this makes sense. All felids are obligate carnivores that rely on meat for nutrients—for example, they need taurine for vision, which they can't synthesize and is only found in meat. So there's an evolutionary advantage for cats to not want to eat anything else.
> there's an evolutionary advantage for cats to not want to eat anything else
Do we have evidence cats’ ancestors had such a receptor?
If not, it might be simpler to assume there wasn’t evolutionary pressure to not taste sweetness as much as there was a lack of any pressure to taste it.