Posted on 12/05/2017 7:36:59 PM PST by MtnClimber
Dogs and raccoons are among the most intelligent animals on Earth, according to a new investigation of mammal brains.
ntelligence is hard to define in humans, but much less in other animals. One reason is that all species have evolved to be as “smart” as is necessary for their survival. In fact, some of the most populous animals on the planet have relatively unimpressive brains. “Mice have tiny brains with few neurons and, if asked, they would certainly say that they're doing very well, thank you,” Suzana Herculano-Houzel of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute told Seeker. Dogs have average-sized brains, so when Herculano-Houzel and her colleagues recently compared them to those of other mammals, they were shocked by the resulting data. It turns out that dogs have about twice the number of cerebral cortex neurons as cats. “To put our findings into context: we humans have twice the cortical neurons that gorillas have,” said Herculano-Houzel, whose work on primates is outlined in the book The Human Advantage. “So, our new study provides reason to expect that dogs have the biological capability for much more complex and flexible behavior than cats do.”
She explained that there is a direct correlation between total numbers of cortical neurons and intelligence, given that neurons are the information-processing units in the brain. She added that the cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that can combine information from different sources and create new associations, recognize patterns, make decisions to act differently based on past experience, and start to make predictions for the future. “For that reason,” she continued, “whatever species has the most neurons in the cerebral cortex is therefore expected to be capable of more complex and flexible behavior.”
(Excerpt) Read more at seeker.com ...
“Oh boy, then why can’t dogs bury their own shit?”
That’s how it is!
Truth! If they ever revolted, you’d be shredded! LOL!
Oh...this isn’t really the place, but how are your little galz today?
Beavers are smarter than people.
[[Oh boy, then why can’t dogs bury their own shit?]]
Why bury it yourself when some dumb cat will come along and bury it for them?
LOL!, Yup, corny!
If raccoons are so smart, why are they so easy to trap? I can stand next to the trap and adjust the trigger and they’ll go right in if there’s bird seed to be had, or at food, which they adore far more than any cat. You can trap a coon or dog repeatedly, because of their greed.
I guess they’d be smart if it were not for other factors: Because like dogs, when all your brain cells are focused on food or pheromones, it’s as if you have no brains at all.
Teenagers beware...
People train dogs.
Cats train people.
Or,
Dogs have owners.
Cats have staff.
Shredded alright, like wheat!
The girlies are doing ok. Holli’s been quiet but Sophie has been following me around a lot, whining. She seems to hurt a little more than Holli.
They’ll feel better by tomorrow morning.
So they don’t seem like it because they’re slackers? lol
Probably right about that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2RXVHCCces
SQUIRREL!!!
You took the threat right outta my mouth.
:D
Cats have to have humans provide litter for them to paw around in. My dog is smart enough to go outside. Saves me from buying boxes of litter. I can buy him Red Barn chewies instead. He doesn’t have to bury his poop. Why do the extra work? He knows I’ll clean it up now and then. Smart dog.
Pound for pound, Cats win. Period.
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