NBC

Sorry, Garfield: Study Finds Dogs Are Smarter Than Cats

The team counted neurons in the class of carnivorous mammals that dogs and cats belong to

Cat people, now might be a good time to go clean the litterbox — new research strongly suggests that dogs are smarter than cats, NBC News reported.

Dog brains have more than twice as many cortical neurons, which are linked to planning, thinking and complex behavior, than cats do, according to a paper accepted for publication this week in the Frontiers in Neuroanatomy journal.

"I believe the absolute number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, determines the richness of their internal mental state and their ability to predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experience," said Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a Vanderbilt University professor who developed the method the team used to count neurons in the class of carnivorous mammals that dogs and cats belong to.

The research took physical brain size into account, weighing number of cortical neurons against brain size.

Contact Us