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Sorry But Dogs Are Actually Smarter Than Cats
- 30/11/2017
It’s a debate as long as time itself.
But now, we FINALLY have an answer.
And for anyone who adores their dog, this won’t come as any surprise.
Sorry to break it to any cat lovers out there but dogs are *apparently* smarter.
That is, according to a new study which found that dogs have 530 million neurons in their brain while cats have about 250 million.
In comparison, humans have 16 billion.
So don’t expect to have a conversation with your favourite pooch about Marx anytime soon.
Neurons are the cells associated with thinking, planning and complex behaviour and are all considered hallmarks of intelligence.
The research by Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Associate Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, developed the method for accurately measuring the number of neurons in cats and dogs’ brains.
‘I believe the absolute number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, determines the richness of their internal mental state and their ability to predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experience,’ Suzana said.
Although Suzana admits to being more of a dog person, which could make her a little biased, she says the findings mean that dogs have ‘the biological capability of doing much more complex and flexible things with their lives than cats can’.
‘At the least, we now have some biology that people can factor into their discussions about who’s smarter, cats or dogs.’
The study, ‘Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain’ is published in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, should end the debate once and for all but I doubt that will be the case.
That’s because although dogs have the most neurons, they don’t have the largest brains. Interesting.
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