by Nandita Subbiah
Which are smarter cats or dogs? Oxford University researchers say dogs are more intelligent in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Oxford researchers studied 500 species, both fossilized and living to see how they have evolved over 60 million years. They found that social animals, such as dogs, have larger brains relative to body size than non-social animals, such as cats. The social interaction requires larger brains.
However, not everyone agrees with this. Beth Skillings, a veterinarian with Cats Protection said, “The domestic cat is highly intelligent thanks to its wild ancestry,” and “Unlike dogs, they are smart enough to hunt alone and don’t have to depend on others.”
The Oxford University researchers’ study is not the only study that says dogs are smarter. Another study tested dogs and cats by attaching food to string and observing whether they would realize pulling the line would bring the treats closer. The cats had no problems when there was only one string. When they had two strings they didn’t consistently choose the string with the bait over the one without it, though dogs did.
In a survey Wayland Middle School students were asked which animal was smarter. 61.1% said that dogs were smarter. 38.9% said cats were smarter. So which animal is really more intelligent?
Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5552628/Dogs-are-smarter-than-cats-research-shows.html
http://theweek.com/article/index/209663/are-dogs-really-smarter-than-cats
