Who is smarter – dogs or cats? | Community | newportnewstimes.com – Newport News Times

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Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Updated: June 11, 2022 @ 7:46 pm
It turns out that raccoons are right up their with dogs and cats when it comes to neuronal capacity and brain size. 

It turns out that raccoons are right up their with dogs and cats when it comes to neuronal capacity and brain size. 
The crow and bumblebee columns got me really wondering about the age-old argument about who is the smartest – dogs or cats? Is it truly a matter of brain to body size or is it the number of neurons in relationship to other parts of the brain?
Except it turns out that brain to body size does not seem to apply consistently across the animal world. In fact, some of the largest mammals have very large brains but, according to scientists, it is really the number of neurons packed into the frontal cerebral cortex that indicates the level of intelligence. 
In a study developed by Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Associate Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, scientists sought to prove that meat-eating predators were much more intelligent than plant eating animals that munched all day.
A study was published in 2017, “Dogs Have the Most Neurons, Though Not the Largest Brain: Trade-Off between Body Mass and Number of Neurons in the Cerebral Cortex of Large Carnivoran Species.”
According to the study, “Carnivorans are divided into two main suborders, Caniformia and Feliformia, both of which include species that were domesticated. Four of the species belong to the suborder Caniformia (dog, raccoon, ferret and brown bear), and four to the Feliformia (striped hyena, banded mongoose, lion and cat).”
In the opening remarks: “Carnivorans are a diverse group of mammals that includes carnivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous, domesticated and wild species, with a large range of brain sizes. Carnivorans stand out in that the usual relationship between larger body, larger cortical mass and larger number of cortical neurons only applies to small and medium-sized species, and not beyond dogs; we find that the golden retriever dog has more cortical neurons than the striped hyena, African lion and even brown bear, even though the latter species have up to three times larger cortices than dogs. Remarkably, the brown bear cerebral cortex, the largest examined, only has as many neurons as the ten times smaller cat cerebral cortex, although it does have the expected ten times as many non-neuronal cells in the cerebral cortex compared to the cat.
“We also find that raccoons have dog-like numbers of neurons in their cat-sized brain, which makes them comparable to primates in neuronal density. Comparison of domestic and wild species suggests that the neuronal composition of carnivoran brains is not affected by domestication.” 
Instead, large carnivorans appear to be particularly vulnerable to metabolic constraints that impose a trade-off between body size and number of cortical neurons.”
It turns out that dogs, particularly golden retrievers, have almost twice the neuronal capacity as cats.  Unfortunately, the flaw in the study is that they were not able to compare all of the different breeds of dogs and cats to see if there was any variance.
But here again we seem to always want to quantify something through one straight margin of measurement. Surely intelligence is based on a number of factors, not just neurons packed in a brain. Perhaps food, environment, experience and genetic propensity have a role. Perhaps different breeds raised in different environments have varying intelligence.
According to Professor Stanley Coren, 51 percent of a dog’s intelligence stems from its genes while 49 percent is based on environmental circumstances. Included in the 2006 republication of “The Intelligence of Dogs” are three types of canine intelligence: instinctive, adaptive, and working and obedience. Based on these measures he cited the border collie, poodle, German shephard and golden retrievers as the smartest dogs.
What is quite interesting is a book review titled “Reason Versus Instinct” written by Alfred R. Wallace and published in “Nature” May 25, 1893. The book he is discussing is “The Intelligence of Animals” by Charles William Purnell. 
Wallace opens with “This little work has been written, the author states, in order to awaken public interest in the daily lives of the numerous animals which surround us, and to enforce the view that they are not mere lumps of animated clay, but creatures quickened by the fire of intelligence, and mentally as well as physically our brethren. The facts and arguments of modern writers on the subject have been condensed, and the results presented in a way calculated to interest the average reader, but always from the somewhat peculiar standpoint of the author. In his own words:—‘The object of this work is, first, to prove that, among animals instinct, as distinguished from intelligence, is non-existent, that, in fact, it is a mere name; and, secondly, that the intelligence of the higher animals is essentially the same as our own.’”
Wallace also worked with Charles Darwin on the theories of evolution. The two collaborated on a scientific paper, discussing their evidence for natural selection and evolution. 
 
Jane Laulis is an avid pet lover. She hosts a pet talk radio show and is involved with pets from research to retail, nutrition to pet food manufacturing. She lives on the coast with her scientist husband, ocean faring dogs, indoor cats, exotic snakes and a charm of hummingbirds. She may be reached at [email protected].
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