Which are the smartest, cats, dogs or elephants?
I’m sure you have seen or have even been a part of this, let’s call it a debate. Which are smarter, cats or dogs? I threw elephants in there with good reason, and all shall be revealed in this blog post.
This is much more complicated than an intellectual test to see which species will perform better at each task. Because each species fits into his own niche in nature. Intelligence can only be compared within the same species, so we can say that this ginger cat is smarter than this tabby cat, and we can say that this black dog is smarter than that brindle dog, because they are from the same species. Each species’ brains develop according to what they need for survival in their environment. Puppies, kittens and elephant calves are born with hardwired genetic behaviours and intelligence. They inherited this from their ancestors. These can not be altered.
Each species’ brains are developed specifically for the role they have to play in nature, that means that different parts of the brain will be bigger or smaller, depending on which skills they’d need for survival as an individual and as a ambassador for their species. This, will also influence the shape of their skulls. And, the size of a brain can be very deceiving, because the brain folds into itself.
The question then would be, what was my cat or dog’s brain built to do, and, are they utilising it fully, only then can we really start to think about their intelligence.
I brought elephants into this post, because they are a modern day example of changing their DNA structure in order to survive. (African elephants that is). Obviously, in order to do this, the way their brain develops also needs to change, and this could possibly affect their ‘intelligence’. Sadly, they have evolved (changing) over the last decades to survive humanity by no longer growing tusks, or growing very small tusks that would not interest a poacher.
Cats, dogs and elephants are therefor as smart as they need to be, and can not be compared.