You may have always thought that your cat is far more of a cat than your dog. However, you are completely wrong: a new study from Vanderbilt University (USA) points out that dogs, when it comes to intelligence, surpass our feline friends.
How is intelligence measured?
Researchers have analyzed the number of neurons they present in their cerebral cortex. That is, the so-called ‘gray cells’ that are associated with thinking, planning and behavior, all considered important signs of intelligence.
Thus, in this study (the first to count the number of cortical neurons in the brain of various carnivorous animals), scientists were able to discover that dogs possess many more neurons of this type than cats.
“We were interested in comparing different species of carnivorous animals to see how the number of neurons in their brains is related to the size of their brains, including cats, dogs, lions and brown bears,” explained researcher Suzana Herculano, who developed the method to accurately measure the number of neurons in the brain of these species.
Results of the investigation
When it comes to dogs and cats, the study concluded that dogs have around 530 million cortical neurons, while cats have around 250 million. (This figure could be compared to the 16 billion neurons found in the human brain).
“I believe that the number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, determines the richness of its internal mental state and its ability to predict what is about to happen in its environment based on past experiences,” argued Herculano.
Thus, research shows that dogs have the biological capacity to do much more complex things in their lives than cats. In addition, the team of scientists chose carnivorous animals for the study because of their diversity and wide variety of brain sizes.
On the other hand, the researchers found that the brains of domestic animals (such as dogs, cats, or ferrets) were the same size as those of wild species (such as lions or hyenas), disproving the prevailing view that animals domestics have smaller brains.
