Why Your Cat Doesn’t Have a Sweet Tooth

Humans are a self-centered lot. We take our senses for granted and generally assume that other creatures possess the same ones we do—sight, hearing, smell, taste, or more complex perceptions such as the ability to tell apart the seasons.

But just like other abilities, senses evolve to support the daily functions of animals, plants, and the rest of life. Evolution tends to do away with senses that are not needed, especially if those senses are costly. Animals that evolve underground lifestyles often lose their eyesight. Separately, evolution also tends to favor a superior sense of smell and hearing in these same organisms. Since the survival of carnivores does not depend on their ability to find sugars, genetic mutations that rendered some of them unable to taste sweetness persisted. Some tropical insects evolved without the ability to use the length of days as a