Are DOGS Smarter Than CATS?

Are DOGS Smarter Than CATS?

Here’s a trick question for you: which pet is smarter, dogs or cats?

This is a trick partly because dogs and cats are related to each other, like distant cousins. Both dogs and cats had the same ancient ancestor, who first appeared in what is now Asia millions of years ago.

That animal, now extinct, was the Miacid.

This is what an artist thinks a miacid looked like.

Miacids were a small animal, looking a bit like a ferret. They had long, slender bodies and long tails. Some lived in trees; others lived on the ground.

They ate lizards, birds, and smaller mammals like shrews and opossums.

So, to start with, dogs and cats were equally smart. They got smarter because they developed teeth that could eat other animals, providing protein for their brains to grow.

Both dogs and cats that are pets can learn human words. It is thought that cats can understand about 30 words. Dogs can learn many more words than that, if their owners teach them. One border collie has been taught more than 1,000 words – all the names of her toys, by her owner. That’s about as many words as a child who is 2 years old can understand!

If you measure smartness by knowing a lot of words, dogs win!

Dogs can also learn tricks. They love to show off how smart they are! Cats can’t learn any tricks, maybe because they just don’t want to. So, it could be that the dogs are smarter, because of all the things they can learn to do. Or it might be that the cats are smarter, because cats only do what they feel like doing.

Both cats and dogs have learned how to ‘talk’ to people. Dogs bark to communicate with people. Wild dogs (and wolves) almost never bark. This is because they have other ways to communicate with their pack.

Cats have learned how to purr to communicate with people. Wild cats don’t purr, only pet cats.

So, both cats and dogs can tell people how they are feeling, making them equally smart at ‘talking’ to people.

Here is something else dogs can do and cats can’t. Dogs can read people’s faces and tell how you’re feeling.

Dogs are born knowing how to look at the right side of a person’s face. That’s the side that is best at showing emotions, like love, fear, anger or sadness. Dogs understand how you are right now because they look directly at you. Cats can’t do this!

Dogs are smarter at understanding people

Scientists who study animal behaviour have also discovered that dogs are better than almost every other animal at solving simple problems. Cats don’t solve problems like where did my toy go? Or how to turn on a tap to get a drink of water.

Many dogs can figure out how to open a door, turn on a light switch or fetch your slippers.

Companion dogs are trained to do these small jobs. They do these things to help the people they live with.

Cats can be companion animals, helping people who are nervous be calmer. But they can’t learn how to turn off lights or help open doors.

Both dogs and cats make good pets. But dogs can learn to do more than cats can.

Do you think this means that dogs are smarter?

Here’s a funny story about who’s smarter, dogs or cats:

This book is written for adults, so you may need some help reading it. It tells about the fascinating things scientists are discovering about how smart dogs really are, and why they have been so good at learning to live with people.

How Smart are Wild Animals?

Here is another book that is written for adults, so you may need to read it with someone older to understand. It is about how wild animals think.