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Whenever us dog people tell cat owners that we prefer canines over kitties, we all get the same response: “You’d like my cat. My cat is different.”
No, Debbie. You’re cat is like the rest of ’em: smug, ungrateful, void of emotion, constantly hiding under the radiator.
But, in light of new information, I have softened by stance on kitties, as it has been revealed that they simply do not have the capacity to be any better. It’s not their fault.
Researchers at Vanderbilt studied the number of cortical neurons in the brains of several animals to determine which animals have the highest biological brain capability.
The results: dogs have about 530 million cortical neurons. Cats have less than half that, at in 250 million. Us human, we have 16 billion.
Now, a quick break from our sponsors.
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Suzana Herculano-Houzel, associate professor of psychology and biological sciences at Vanderbilt and study overseer, had this to say:
“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.”
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.”
Researchers also studied the brains of one or two specimens from each of eight carnivoran species: ferret, mongoose, raccoon, cat, dog, hyena, lion and brown bear. They hypothesized that the brains of carnivores should have more cortical neurons than the herbivores they prey upon because hunting requires more cognitive ability than herbivores’ strategy of “finding safety in sheer numbers.”
This turned out not to be true.
The researchers determined that the ratio of neurons to brain size in small- and medium-sized carnivores was about the same 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. (via)
The biggest surprise: the raccoon, who packs the same number of cortical neurons as a dog into a brain the size of a cat’s. This leads me to believe that raccoons could have been the domesticated pet over the dog if luck turned their way. And if dogs weren’t so goddamn cute.
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[h/t Business Insider]