For many years, animal lovers do not get tired to discuss one question: who is smarter - dogs or cats. Public opinion tends to favor the cute felines. Indeed, scientists have long found that the number of neurons in the cerebral cortex in cats is twice that in dogs.
The dog does not hesitate to quench the thirst of the toilet, it meekly looks into the owner's eyes and carries out all his orders. Cats are completely independent animals - proud and selfish. It would seem that everything is obvious, however, it is too early to draw final conclusions. Recent studies have revealed the secret genius of dogs.
Like other animals that are able to understand voice commands (chimpanzees, parrots, dolphins), dogs react to hundreds of commands, and they associate them with certain objects. But the difference between dogs and other animals is in the way of learning these words.
Researcher Julian Kaminsky from the UK conducted an interesting experiment in 2004, the main participant of which was Rico's dog. The dog was well oriented in the names of hundreds of things. Rico was shown an object unknown to him and seven other things whose name the dog already knew. Scientists asked the animal to bring a toy, calling it an unknown word. The dog did not know this word, but instantly understood what toy was meant.
After a series of similar experiments, the researchers came to the following conclusion: in contrast to other animals, dogs have a unique ability inherent in man. Cat owners will have to take another look at the common stereotype that their pets have a better memory than dogs. It's not quite like that. Scientists from Canada conducted a few years ago this experiment: they hid a treat in one box of four in front of dogs and cats. The cats almost immediately forgot where the food was, and the dogs remembered it perfectly even four minutes later.
With the ability to navigate, the situation is diametrically opposite. In 2010, scientists from the University of Ontario announced the results of the experiment. During the test, the dogs were given the task of finding food in the labyrinth. A similar experiment was conducted with rats. The results clearly showed that rats surpassed dogs in absolutely all parameters.
In the ability to get food from behind the fence, even wolves were better than their fellows. However, scientists from Hungary noted a very important nuance: if a dog watched a person solving this problem, she instantly understood everything and successfully performed a similar task. It turned out that the secret to the dog genius lies in the skillful interaction with man.
It is categorically argued that dogs are superior to cats in the mind is not entirely correct. Nature has foreseen everything and every living creature is created to be the best in a wide variety of things. Perhaps the feline mind manifests itself precisely in self-sufficiency and rare acumen.
