Dogs are 'smarter than cats'

According to a latest research dogs are cleverer than cats because their friendly character has helped them develop bigger brains.



Cat's brains are smaller as they are less social Photo: REX



The intelligence of “a man’s best friend” has evolved at a greater rate than the less social cat over millions of years, scientists at Oxford University have claimed.

It was often thought that the feline pet was smarter than its canine counterpart because it needed less attention but researchers have discovered that cat’s brains are smaller because they are less social.

For the first time scientists have charted the evolutionary history of the brain across different groups of mammals over 60 million years and identified huge variations in how their brains have changed.

They found that there was a link between the size of an animal’s brain in relation to the rest of its body and how socially active it was.

The study analysed available data on the brain and body size of over 500 species of living and fossilised mammals. The brains of monkeys grew the most over time followed by horses, dolphins, camels and dogs.

Read more about the research.