猫和狗谁更聪明?
Ever since humanity split into dog and cat people, we've been arguing over which one of our beloved companions is a smarter species. A study from 2017 mightn't be the last word on the matter, but for those who think more neurons means more intelligence, it looks as if dogs stand out among carnivores for having a remarkably dense cerebral cortex. An international team of researchers analysed the wrinkled outer layers of the brains of a variety of carnivorous animals - including dogs and cats - to determine whether the demands of hunting prey mean a higher count of cortical neurons, adding brain power where it counts. "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," said neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel from Vanderbilt University in the US. So is it time to give dogs their due? "I'm 100 percent a dog person," Herculano-Houzel confesses, "but, with that disclaimer, our findings mean to me that dogs have the biological capability of doing much more complex and flexible things with their lives than cats can." Capability might not necessarily be realised as intelligence, of course. Cats are notoriously harder to study - not because they're stupid, but because frankly they just don't care for our 'science'. And if you're a dog person cracking out the champagne to celebrate anyway, here's one more fun fact. The real oddball carnivore is the racoon - even though it's close to cats in terms of size, it actually has a similar number of neurons to dogs. Considering raccoons can smash intelligence tests, we're not surprised. |