The question has been debated since the domestication of dogs and cats:
Who's smarter?
Lucky for us, the fine folks at the University of Salford in Manchester (across the pond in England) took on that very question, in a very scientific manner. You can read their full report in the science journal Animal Cognition.
Behaviors
First, they look at the observable behaviors of a dog. Barking, scratching, nudging, and rolling over, are just a few of the behaviors the researchers found to be the ways dogs communicate with us. Researchers identified 47 gestures canines use to communicate, but have only been able to translate 19 of those gestures. Shockingly, dogs have 8 different gestures to communicate they want to be scratched and only 5 gestures to indicate they want food.
Below are the 19 canine gestures the researchers have been able to translate.
SCRATCH ME:
- Rolling over
- Pressing its nose against you or another object
- Licking you
- Placing a paw on you
- Gently nibbling your arm
- Trotting around and rolling over
- Laying on a side and lifting a back leg
- Nuzzling you and leaning on you
FEED ME:
- Using a snout or head to move your hand to their body
- Holding out a paw
- Looking between you and another object, usually their food bowl
- Standing on her hind legs
- Throwing a toy forwards
PLAY WITH ME:
- Briefly pawing at you
- Using their head under you or a toy
- Pawing a toy they want to play with
- Wiggling under you
OPEN THE DOOR FOR ME:
- Lifting both paws off the ground and placing them on its owner or a nearby object
- Jumping up and down in one location
As for the feline, only 17 gestures have been identified to communicate behavior. Most of their communications happen with their tails and ears.
A Cat's Tail
- Wagging - Your cat is seriously frustrated with you or someone in the immediate area. This is not the time to go in for a pet or to scratch their chin.
- Twitching - Your feline is ready for some fun. Time to get out the toy mouse or a ball of yarn.
- Puffed - Although it's kind of funny to us, your cat is terrified and feels very threatened.
- Wrapping or Embracing - This is how they show pure, genuine love.
Brain Power
We've established that both cats and dogs communicate with us on some level. So let's have a look at what is going on behind the scenes, in the brain.
Researches have found a dog's brain is far more dense than a feline brain. So what does that mean exactly?
Both dogs and cats hunt, or at the very least have the instinct to hunt. So when it comes to hunting, it's all about the brain being efficient, and denser is better.
It's believed that dogs have about 530 million neurons calculating their behaviors while cats only have approximately 250 million. Researchers think this is why dogs can be trained and have the ability to "predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experience,” according to neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel from Vanderbilt University.
Who is Smarter?
We doubt any of the research is going to convince every dog or cat person which species is smarter, but we thought these fun facts would be helpful to add to the debate at the dinner table.
