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Study Finds Dogs Are Brainier Than Cats (vanderbilt.edu)
Science_afficionado writes: Are you a cat lover? A dog lover? If so, you may be interested in the first scientific study to actually count the number of cortical neurons in the brains of a number of carnivores, including cats and dogs. Bottom line: Dogs have about twice as many of these "little grey cells" as cats. These "little gray cells" are associated with thinking, planning and complex behavior. The study found that dogs have about 530 million cortical neurons while cats have about 250 million. (For comparison, the human brain has 16 billion.) Another interesting discovery was that carnivores have about the same ratio of neurons to brain size as that of herbivores, "suggesting that there is just as much evolutionary pressure on the herbivores to develop the brain power to escape from predators as there is on carnivores to catch them," reports Vanderbilt University. "The study's findings also challenge the prevailing view that domesticated animals have smaller brains than their wild cousins. The ratios of brain size to body weight of the domestic species they analyzed -- ferret, cat and dog -- did not scale in a significantly different manner from those of their wild relatives -- mongoose, raccoon, hyena, lion and brown bear."
The results of the study are described in a paper titled "Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain: Trade-off between body mass and number of neurons in the cerebral cortex of large carnivoran species" accepted for publication in the open access journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
The results of the study are described in a paper titled "Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain: Trade-off between body mass and number of neurons in the cerebral cortex of large carnivoran species" accepted for publication in the open access journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
Cat lovers, cower in the corner with tails between your legs.
Next battle to settle: vi vs emacs.
Social complexity seems to be a driver for intelligence. Hyena society is quite complex with clans and a dominance hierarchy within each clan. Hyenas seem to have theory of mind and seem to practice tactical deception. Hyenas are also good cooperative problem solvers, outperforming primates.
...but cannot do their business on their own in a designated spot (cats can do that) and are inept to spend a few days alone (no problem with cats). I have come across many dumb dogs that bark constantly for no reason, but at least as many clever cats. More cells does not make one smarter.
Does that mean I get smarter as I lose weight?
Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
My dog runs 200 times to fetch a stick I throw, my cat gives me the 'fuck you' look the very first time and goes for a nap.
Different breeds may be smarter then others. But that is due to us breeding them for different traits.
However I doubt that there is a huge variation. As often traits that we equate to being smart for a dog, doesn't always require more brain power.
As the article points out wild animals seem to be brainier, however a wolf doesn't have a lot of traits that we equate to intelligence that our pet dog has.
For examples Dogs can understand the abstract concept of pointing, while wolves cannot. Dogs can be taught a lot of tricks and behaviors that may be outside their normal instinctive behavior, while wolves do not. However Dogs bark and make a lot of noise, and are much more disorganized in hunting by themselves, which would put them at a disadvantage in a non-human world. Dogs and Humans had created a symbiotic relationship. So the Dog has evolved to at least react to our weird abstract concepts, in a way that pleases us, they do not really understand the concept of being tethered, but they realize there is a boundary and past that us humans needs to be with them.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
they can't be trained because they're rather stupid
How well can you be trained ? Would you be able to obey simple commands such as sitting on the ground, or fetching a ball, in return for being told you're such a good boy ?
Ever seen people play sports? You're disproving your own point here.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
I've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree either.
There has to be some level of entertainment for the dog too: My previous dog would carry tennis balls to the top of the stairs in order to drop them and chase them. No owner reward at all. Current dog won't fetch anything, even for a reward. If it's not moving, it has no interest at all: she only wants the chase.
Design for Use, not Construction!
As the article points out wild animals seem to be brainier, however a wolf doesn't have a lot of traits that we equate to intelligence that our pet dog has. For examples Dogs can understand the abstract concept of pointing, while wolves cannot. Dogs can be taught a lot of tricks and behaviors that may be outside their normal instinctive behavior, while wolves do not. However Dogs bark and make a lot of noise, and are much more disorganized in hunting by themselves, which would put them at a disadvantage in a non-human world.
As someone who has owned a wolf in the past, I can assure you that you don't know what you are talking about. I was able to train him to sit, stay, heel, lay down and come in less than half a day. I never saw anything quite like it. I could also point at damn near anything and tell him to get it, and he would bring it to me. This included flies that got into the house. On the occasion that one would land out of his reach (basically the ceiling) he would sit and wait for it to move again. I just wish he would have taken them to the trash can rather then bring them to me.
He was a great companion rather than a pet, but I would never think about doing that again as they are much more independent thinking than a dog. If there was someone or something he felt was a threat, it didn't matter what I said, he wanted to kill it. There were two occasions that I caught him mid air going for someones throat. After that I made sure to keep him away from anyone that he didn't like. He would also pin people to the floor if they moved around me in a threatening manner. Two things that I never quite figured out were why he hated bicycles and anyone having a gun other than myself. If anyone carried a gun onto my property, he would take it and bring it to me.
They aren't "difficult" to train; they can't be trained because they're rather stupid.
Well yeah, since they're basically the animal kingdom's foremost libertarians, so it makes sense that they're short-sighted, self-centered and dumb.
Disclaimer: I like cats.
Eat the rich.
My cat is a communist. He insists that I provide the food and shelter on the sole basis of me having a much higher income. And he won't shut up about Mao.
Of course he doesn't know what he's talking about. He has no understand or grasp of how dog intelligence is consistently ranked. Dog intelligence can be identified and ranked on instinctual intelligence, adaptive intelligence, and working/obedience intelligence. The latter is how much time it takes to teach a dog a new command as well as how often the dog responds to the command the first time once taught it. Wolves aren't necessarily intelligent on that last ranking system. Human don't frequently value the instinctive or adaptive intelligences because they're not related to the tasks for which we've bred them however some breeds of dog are incredibly adaptively intelligence (Siberian huskies) and capable of solving problems on their own. Many of the most intelligent breeds by most obedience rankings aren't required to also have strong problem solving intelligence and that may be an undesirable trait when it comes to breeding a working dog.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork