Thanks! Long time reader, first time poster, etc., etc.
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So you’re saying dogs are smarter because they like their menschenfleisch fresh. OK.
So, to settle an internet argument, they scooped their brains out?
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look at those ears!!!
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Has anyone considered that the scientists had to use brains of animals - had to kill them!
Anyway, having both cats and dogs, a large dog like an Australian shepherd or German shepherd leave all house cats in the dust, but comparing a small dog the same size as a cat their is probably not much difference. Both animals operate from programmed instincts and those instincts are somewhat different. A dog follows a pack leader. A cat does not follow that way. Either one makes a great pet for various reasons.
Crap “study”, written purely for clickbait, published in crap pay-to-publish Frontiers journal.
Clickbait achieved.
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Is that a bad thing? AFAF.
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Just loyal period. There’s a known case of two street dogs in India one of whom is blind. The other guides both of them.
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It seems to me that the metric employed may not tell the whole story. https://www.sciencealert.com/a-man-who-lives-without-90-of-his-brain-is-challenging-our-understanding-of-consciousness
My dog eats my cats poo so Q.E.D pretty much right there for who is more intelligent in absolute terms. If half of the dog’s neurons are being used for pure love and the other half for thinking about food at all times no matter what forever it doesn’t really matter how many total neurons they have.
My cat has a inner life that I have no access too- I’m pretty sure my dog’s inner life is food but also cuddling and that’s about it.
Not saying that’s cats are smarter but I guess I respect them more.
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Yup. I know a rottie that gets stuck in corners. If he goes to, say, investigate an Interesting Smell, once all his eyes can see is white walls, his brain shuts down and you have to grab his feet and walk him backwards til he reboots. He is splendidly dim.
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Yeah. The first thing that will happen if you do manage to inch your way up that well is that the cat, who has been patiently waiting, will attack your fingers as they appear over the lip of the brickwork and sploosh! Down you go again! At which point, it’s the cat’s cool new game, and it’ll happen every time.
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I had a cat that was a dumb as a rock. And I’ve had cats that were scary smart. Ones that can adapt and learn fast. Likewise, I know some dumb as rock dogs and scary smart dogs.
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I have owned two dogs and four cats. the two female cats were scary smart. one figured out that disconnecting wall power prevented hated appliances from running. the other figured out how to work doorknobs. both boys just destroyed things, though the little one now knows he can follow his sister around waiting for her to unlock doors, and destroy what’s on the other side. the dogs were both female. very clever but not levers or electricity clever.
my thoughts on the post actually aren’t based on my experience with fuzzy companions, though. we know the brain creates dedicated structures for different purposes, like processing sound or vision, smells, balance, etc. it’s not clear to me that every neuron contributes linearly to the richness of one’s experience or intellect. maybe I can discern some sound someone else can’t, but maybe that’s not relevant unless I ever hear it. also if discerning it took 10,000 neurons versus a million, maybe I’ll still experience the sound the same way - as some abstract, high order thing. maybe the 10,000 neuron structure is more efficient at the same task.
to me, dogs devote a significant amount of their intellect to pleasing humans, which makes sense since they’ve spent so many generations dependent on a favorable social relationship with us for survival.
maybe that’s the 100k right there.
what’s more striking to me from this article is how similar dogs and cats are - plot the dogs, cats and humans together on a log scale and that won’t be the difference that jumps out at you.
To wit, your car’s speed is not directly proportional to the amount of metal in it.
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