Scientists prove that dogs are smarter than cats

 Brittany DaSilva

 

It’s the great debate amongst dog people and cat people alike: Who’s smarter? Cats or dogs? Researchers at Vanderbilt University seem to have finally put an end to the argument by proving once and for all that dogs are indeed smarter than cats. These researchers discovered that a dog’s cerebral cortex contains more than twice the number of neurons as a cat’s brain.

 

Simply put, neurons are cells that are located throughout the body, as they travel throughout an organism’s nervous system. When dealing specifically with neurons located in the cerebral cortex portion of the brain, these neurons are associated with thinking, planning, and complex behaviours. Due to the cortical neuron’s correlation with these functions, the number of neurons located within the cerebral cortex is strongly related to an organism’s overall intelligence.

 

Suzana Herculano-Houzel, associate professor of psychology and biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, stated that dogs have about 530 million cortical neurons, while cats only have about 250 million. Human brains, in comparison, have approximately 16 billion neurons within the cerebral cortex. The broader scope of the study sought to discover if the number of neurons located within the cerebral cortex affected the size of the brain within various carnivoran species.

 

Interestingly, the number of cortical neurons did not seem to have an effect on the size of the brain amongst the largest carnivorans. The brain of a dog contains more cortical neurons than a hyena, lion, or brown bear, even though a dog’s brain is the smallest of them all. When it comes to brown bears, although their brains are 10 times larger than a cat’s, the brains of both species contain roughly the same number of cortical neurons. This study also determined that the brain of a raccoon contains approximately the same number of cortical neurons as a dog’s, but the brain itself is only about the size of a cat’s.

 

Although the results of this study favour dogs, it certainly does not mean that cats are dumb. However, it is clear that the tasks that cats are able to perform are far less complex than the tasks frequently carried out by working dogs. Dogs that are used in a professional capacity undergo intense training programs that are designed to sharpen their natural abilities. From search and rescue dogs, police K-9 units, military working dogs, and detection dogs, to service dogs, therapy dogs, and herding dogs, there are many people who depend on a dog’s intelligence every day of their lives.

 

Does this prove that dogs are the superior of the two species in terms of pet ownership? No. There is much more to a companion animal than intelligence alone. For those who prefer a furry friend who is easy to care for and doesn’t require near-constant attention, adopting a cat is still the way to go.