As a writer, one of our main jobs is to remain impartial when writing. Our job is to present the information without bias, present all of the facts, and let the reader come to their own conclusion. As someone who has written about politics, sport, and many topical social issues in my years as a writer, I believe I have become accomplished at this task. However, this current article will take all the restraint I have to not show my true opinion. In fact, forget journalism ethics, dogs are better than cats, here is the proof!
The question of who is better, dogs or cats has divided families, relationships and friends for a long time. If you meet someone on a first or second date and ask them that all-important question “are you a dog person or a cat person?” their answer may determine the future of your relationship. The wrong answer and you will never look at them the same way. The right answer and you may feel you are kindred spirits (even though the odds are pretty much 50/50 of which animal they prefer).
People have tried to solve the debate in many ways, dogs are cuter, cats are more independent, dogs are more loyal, cats are more strategic, dogs would die for you, cats have more viral videos. Yet the cat has always had one ace up its sleeve. Every cat person will always talk about a cat’s intelligence. They will say dogs only love you because they are too stupid to know better. However, a recent study has proven this belief wrong.
A study published in the widely respected ‘Frontiers in Neuroanatomy’ found that although cats have larger brains, dogs are capable of a higher level of functioning. Cats have 250 million cortical neurons while dogs have 530 million cortical neurons. Humans are estimated to have 16 billion cortical neurons while gorillas have 9. So while humans and gorillas are smarter than dogs, cats are at the bottom of this pile.
The number means that dogs are able to do more difficult tasks than cats. While some may question the study, it is not the first to shed a light on canine intelligence. In 2010 a study linked the social abilities of animals, their body size, and brain size as further evidence of intelligence and cats were behind dogs yet again.
Now while some cat fans will say that this simply shows that cats and dogs are intelligent in different ways, like elephants are not good at climbing trees but no one mocks their intelligence for it, the cortical neurons do not lie. While cats are amazing creatures and they have many amazing abilities (ok it hurt me to write that), it appears that when it comes to intelligence, dogs are just the superior animal.
In the great debate over who is the better animal, this surely tips the scales in favor of dogs. When you consider how movies portray dogs and cats it is now glaringly obvious that dogs have been painted in a negative light by Hollywood producers that must be biased cat owners. We hope that the latest study can start to put right the many years of conspiracy and false information that has been spread about dogs. These incredible animals are now clearly the most amazing pets in the world. Not only are they cuter, funnier, friendlier, more loving, cooler, stronger, faster, but they are also smarter as well. If only the Egyptians knew how amazing dogs were and had worshipped the canine instead of the cat, their whole civilization may have survived a lot longer.
I think I managed to stay pretty balanced with my views in this article. Sincere apologies to all cat lovers for the views shared above.
