What are the two favorite pets of humans? I believe the vast majority of people will choose cats and dogs! The question that arises is which of the two species, cats or dogs, is more intelligent? This is an old debate, and one that is, in fact, very difficult to resolve. So, in t

What are the two favorite pets of humans? I believe the vast majority of people will choose cats and dogs! The question that arises is which of the two species, cats or dogs, is more intelligent? This is an old debate, and one that is, in fact, very difficult to resolve. So, in today’s article, let’s popularize some knowledge in this area!

First of all, let’s understand what animal intelligence is.

The three parts of problem-solving ability, concept formation (the ability to form general concepts from some experiences) and social intelligence constitute animal intelligence.

Next, let’s compare cats and dogs from these three aspects that constitute animal intelligence.

In terms of social intelligence: According to research by zoologists, cats prefer human company compared to food and toys. and interactive, and cats can distinguish between their names and similar-sounding words, a 2019 study found that human attention has an impact on cats. When a person pays attention to a cat, the cat's reaction is Spend more time with that person.

Needless to say, dogs are at the same level as cats in terms of social intelligence.

In a test of cats and dogs following human instructions to find hidden food, researchers found that the final test results showed no significant difference between the two species in their ability to do this. But the researchers behind the test said that compared with dogs, cats lack some attention-grabbing behaviors (such as movements and postures to attract the owner's attention to obtain food, etc.).

Therefore, the ability to solve problems and the formation of concepts are basically at the same level.

So far we still haven’t decided who is the smartest, cats or dogs, so what should we do?

Perhaps we can compare intelligence based on the size of the brains of different species. Zoologists believe that brain size determines the relative intelligence of species, an idea based on a 2014 research paper published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, which was tested by more than 50 researchers from around the world on 550 animals, including "birds, apes, monkeys, dogs, lemurs and elephants" compared different Cognitive characteristics of animals, namely self-control. It was found that the larger the brain of an animal, the stronger its self-control.

In other words, The size of the brain is also an indicator of intelligence. If compared according to this point of view, dogs obviously have the upper hand, because dogs' brains are obviously larger than cats. But unfortunately, in the 2014 study, the 550 species of animals studied were not included Cats, so using brain size to compare the intelligence of dogs and cats is a speculative conclusion.

Final summary:

Comparing who is smarter, a dog or a cat, is like asking who is better, a hammer or a screwdriver. I can only say that cats are smart where needed, and dogs are also smart where needed. Comparison of intelligence between species The discussion is completely meaningless.

Author ｜Wei Ran

Source ｜Selected works submitted to the 2nd Zhengzhou Popular Science Essay Contest

Statement ｜The views represent only the author's own and do not represent the position of this account