Animal Insting

Well, since I've been thinking about this "smartest animal" thing so much lately, I started wondering who was smarter, dogs or cats.  So I went and asked my friend, Mr. Google, and I was really afraid he would tell me, "Dream on, Piper!  Of course cats are smarter!"  But imagine how surprised I was when Mr. Google showed me a study that just got published last November, and it says that DOGS are smarter!

The people who did this study are scientists at Oxford University.  They looked at the brain size of 500 different types of mammals, and they compared the brain sizes in fossils from 60 million years ago with brain sizes now.  And they were shocked to learn that some mammals had brains that developed to be bigger over time than others, in relation to the size of their bodies.  Before this, people always thought that all mammals' brains just kept getting bigger at the same rate as they evolved.  But this study showed that wasn't true.  And the thing that made the difference in how big the brain got was how social the animal was.

A Dog's Brain

Monkeys had the brains that grew the most, and after that were horses, dolphins, camels, and dogs.  All of these animals live in social groups, which animals such as cats, deer, and rhinos don't.  So it looks like the mammals who have to be cooperative and play nicely together need bigger brains so they can do that.  Which is why dogs' brains have grown faster than cats' brains.

A Cat's Brain

Dr. Susanne Shultz, who was in charge of this research study, said: “Dogs have always been regarded as the more social animals while cats like to get on with their own thing alone. But it appears that interaction is good for the brain and extends to other species, like ourselves."




Anyway, now that I have told you all about this interesting study, I will also mention that there are some scientists who are not sure whether having a big brain really means you are smarter than someone with a small brain.  I think these scientists are probably wrong, but Mom said I should mention their opinion, just to be fair.  So okay, now I mentioned it.  


Also, Mom wants to know why, if dogs are so much smarter than cats, Chloe is the only one in our house who is smart enough to figure out how to open cabinet doors.  But this seems like such a silly question that I'm not even going to bother trying to answer it!