This is Thinking Gracey. When you see this image, you might want a "thinking beverage" and/or a nap.

The Cats Rule Dogs Drool Evidence

In Part 3 of our review of the New Scientist  article that concluded dogs are smarter than cats we will move on to evaluate the final three categories:  9) Supersenses, 10)Eco-Friendliness and 11) Utility.  In case you are new to our discussion, in Part 1 we reviewed: 1) Brains, 2) Shared History, 3) Bonding, 4)Popularity and 5)Understanding.  In Part 2 we reviewed: 6) Problem Solving, 7) Vocalisation and 8 ) Tractability.  The score:

Human Study Winner: Cats-3  Dogs-5     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-5+  Dogs 0

Let’s continue now with category nine.

9) SUPERSENSES

Does it even seem fair to compare dogs and cats in this category? The very word SUPERSENSES screams cat doesn’t it?  Alas, here is what the humans had to say about the senses.

a) SMELL Even though endless breeds of dogs have been created trying to tweak the canine’s perceptual ability,  the average cat out sniffs the average dog.  With one exception, the bloodhound’s nose contains 300 million smell receptor sites. However the average dog’s olfactory receptors range from 125 -250 million  whereas the average cat has 200 million smell receptors. SMELL GOES TO THE CATS!

b) VISION The history as nocturnal hunters has left both species some impressive visual abilities.   Cats and dogs have a quicker “flicker-fusion rate” than humans, meaning the retinas take more snapshots of their world per second than human eyes. This gives both species superior sensitivity to movement.  For example, a tiger stalking may not be able to clearly see it’s prey while standing completely still,  but the smallest movement, even the blink of an eye is caught by the eye of the tiger. More rods than cones are the reason for this motion detection and also why both species have poorer color vision than humans. However, the rods enable the ability to see in low light levels and here the cats have the upper paw.  Cats can see light levels six times as low as a human while dogs can see around five times as low as a human. VISION GOES TO THE CATS!

c) HEARING The auditory range for the cat extends from 45 to 64,000 hertz as compared to that of dogs at between 67 to 45,000 hertz as shown in the chart below. HEARING GOES TO THE CATS!

So, there you have the review of the supersenses  and it is a clean sweep for the felines.  Both the human study and The Lazy Leopard Research Institute agree. The humans awarded just one point to the cats even though the felines won all three of the supersenses compared.  We were tempted to award 3 additional points to the cats but rather than wolf down the points like our canine compadres might do, we decided to be good sports and just  take one point at a time.

Human Study Winner: Cats-4  Dogs-5     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-6+  Dogs 0

10) ECO-FRIENDLINESS

Cats take the heat for killing wildlife but dogs are just as responsible. Canines play a role in the decline of the European nightjar, they disturb ground nesting birds, and even walking on their leads, they are reducing biodiversity.

For this study, cats and dogs were compared by their real difference in ecological impact in consumption, meaning the area of land required to keep them fed.  A medium-size dog’s ecological footprint is 0.84 hectares annually. Even the teeny tiny chihuahua has a footprint of 0.28 hectares per year.    The environmentally friendly feline’s average paw print is 0.15 hectares.  Proof that cats are earth-friendly and dogs not so much.

Human Study Winner: Cats-5  Dogs-5     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-7+  Dogs 0

11) UTILITY

Even though this final category is completely bias in favor of the dog, we have decided to not throw it out so as to, well, throw the dogs a bone.  We cats are not ones to gloat and we don’t want to further damage the dog’s fragile ego in constant need for approval and positive reinforcement  by trouncing them 8+ to zip, zilch zero.

The human study gave the dogs a point because dogs serve them.  And we are not making light of the fact that some dogs are able to sniff out bombs, guide blind and deaf people and pull sleds.

A cat’s purr has been proven to reduce stress and owning a cat can lengthen a human’s life.  But because dogs need to go for walks forcing the human to exercise and increasing the chance for social contact with other humans boosting their  immune system, the humans gave the dogs a point.  So as we roll our eyes and let out a heavy sigh, we give the utility category to the dogs.

Final Score:

Human Study Winner: Cats-5  Dogs-6     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-7+  Dogs 1

Stay tuned for Part 4, Lazy Leopard’s final remarks about the Dogs Smarter Than Cats Study.

Thank you for joining us.  Do you agree with the final score?  We would love to know what you think too.

*The Lazy Leopard Research Institute is a 100% fictitious feline biased facility

This is Thinking Gracey. When you see this image, you might want a "thinking beverage" and/or a nap.

Dogs Smarter than Cats?

As we discussed in Part 1 of our review, we think the claims made that dogs are smarter than cats in a New Scientist article are flawed and we continue on with our explanation of why we think so here in Part 2.

When we left Part 1 we had reviewed  five of the eleven categories: 1)Brains, 2)Shared History, 3) Bonding, 4) Popularity and 5) Understanding.  The score:

Human Study Winner: Cats-2  Dogs-3     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-2+  Dogs 0-

Let’s continue now with category six.

6) PROBLEM SOLVING

The human study claims that both cats and dogs do fairly well at finding bits of food hidden from them, even though cats hunt for the food on their own and the dogs cheat by asking their pet parents for help as reviewed in category 5-Understanding.

The humans go on to say that not much else is known about the cat’s ability to solve problems. Dogs on the other hand, have been tested ad nauseum. And guess what? The dogs have failed their testing and compared to their wolf cousins, should be wearing dunce caps.

Wolves were able to open a door with a complicated catch simply by watching another wolf do it and the dogs could not figure it out even after years of watching the door open and close.  Cats were not tested, so The Lazy Leopard Research Institute* would like to inject an example of a clever cat solving a problem without the help of humans.  If you would please direct your attention to this short video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Notice how Oscar was able to do the math to calculate the leaping distance to grab the handle and then uses his back legs to push off gaining the leverage needed to open the freezer door. Then carefully jumps down and recalculates the distance to leap up into the freezer to snag the fish sticks. Oscar did not need to observe one of our brilliant wildcat cousins either, he just figured it out on his own.

Now the human study claims that, “dogs are not poor problem solvers, per se, but tend to favor a collaborative approach”  meaning a dog surrenders its power of independent thought and action to the pet parents. And for this, the human study voted in favor of the dogs!  Try to remain calm, we know our tails are fattening too and we can hardly hold back the hisses.

Human Study Winner: Cats-2  Dogs-4     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-3+  Dogs 0-

7) VOCALISATION

Cats and dogs use their history of mammalian mutual understanding in their vocal interactions with humans (also mammals). The study states that dogs have more “vocal flexibility” and that even a human that has never been a pet parent can tell from the dog’s bark whether it is lonely, angry or happy.  Wolves rarely bark, so the thought is that dogs have evolved their vocal range to communicate (ask  for help) from their pet parents.

Cats are more subtle than the bark, bark, bark of the dog.  A study published by Karen McComb from the University of Sussex shows that cats are able to embed an urgent high-frequency meow into a purr that brings out the nurturing side of the human. In fact, cats have figured out how to work their pet parents on a subliminal level by using a similar frequency range as a baby’s cry.   G-E-N-I-U-S!

For being able to communicate on a subliminal level, we award the Cats 2 points.

Human Study Winner: Cats-3  Dogs-4     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-5+  Dogs 0-

8 ) TRACTABILITY

The study says that dogs are easy to train because humans have selected them to be so and that dogs meet the needs of humans by obeying the rules.  Then goes on to say that no one has really tried training cats, so the full extent of their ability is not known.  Even so, the humans award the dogs with another point!

We threw this category out due to the outrageous bias in favor of the dogs.

Human Study Winner: Cats-3  Dogs-5    The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-5+  Dogs 0-

Stay tuned for Dogs Smarter Than Cats Study Claims Flawed Part 3

*The Lazy Leopard Research Institute is a 100% fictitious feline biased facility

This is Thinking Gracey. When you see this image, you might want a "thinking beverage" and/or a nap.

Dogs more Intelligent than Cats?

Dogs and cats were evaluated in eleven categories in an attempt to determine which species is more intelligent.  I know, this is like trying to determine which is of greater value, a piece of limestone gravel or an emerald but try to control any hissing and fat tails.  The  New Scientist article’s shocking research results show a clear bias towards dogs  with the canines awarded 6 points and the felines a meager 5.

Research Study Demonstrates Clear Bias Towards Dogs

Dogs celebrating  the declaration that they are smarter than cats came a wee bit early in our opinion. And just like dancing in the end zone, this  display of excessive celebration usually results in a penalty. So, The Lazy Leopard Research Institute is about to blow the whistle and place a flag on the play.

While our canine compadres celebrated by fetching toys, speaking on demand,  and toasting with toilet water cocktails, their fellow felines were hard at work analyzing the data. Here is what the superior minds at The Lazy Leopard Research Institute* found out.

1) BRAINS

The average dog brain weighs in at 64 grams and the average domestic cat’s brain weighs 25 grams. This stands to reason as dogs on average are much heavier than the typical house cat.  What is more important than simply brain size, not a reliable measure of intelligence, is to take a look at the brains information processing capacity: the number of neurons in the cortex, known as the executive brain. Cats clearly rule with 300 million neurons compared with a mere 160 million in dogs.  We have created a chart to rub it in, we mean to make it easier to compare.

Human Study Winner: Cats-1  Dogs-0     The Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-1+  Dogs 0-

At this point, do we need to even go on?  We cats are not ones to kick a dog when it is down but in the interest of science we must follow through.

2) SHARED HISTORY

Due to the large divergence between dogs and wolf DNA,  scientists at the University of  California suspect that domestication of dogs occurred at least 50,000 years ago but DNA studies from the Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden estimate domestication of dogs to be around 16,000 years.

Ancient Egyptian burials and hieroglyphs tell us that cats were popular in homes from about 3,000 BC. However, comparisons of DNA of wildcats across the globe with that of house cats confirms their origins in the cradle of agriculture, the Fertile Crescent east of the Mediterranean. This is about the time we taught humans how to attract mice and other prey for easier hunting.

There is evidence of a 9500-year-old burial of a kitten with a human on Cyprus. That is all the human researchers have been able to piece together so far. Is that the feline’s fault?  And is shared history a true measure of intelligence?  We threw this category out due to human bias in favor of the dog.

Human Study Winner: Cats-1  Dogs-1     The Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-1+  Dogs 0-

3) BONDING

Dogs put through the “strange situation” test responded the same way as a human baby. A secure baby and a dog is bold and happy while mom is around, becomes agitated when she leaves, will calm down with a stranger after a period of time but only has eyes for mom when she returns.

Adam Miklosi from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, whose group did the “strange situation” test with the dogs tried this experiment with cats.  The cats found the lab setting upsetting, stressful and refused to take the test.

Cats were penalized for their independence, when evolution is truly to blame.  Cats are loners and independent thinkers, whereas dogs are babies.  We threw this category out due to human bias in favor of the dog.

Human Study Winner: Cats-1  Dogs-2     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-1+  Dogs 0-

4) POPULARITY

Cats are the clear winners and even the human study agrees. In the top ten cat-owning countries there are nearly 204 million cats sharing homes with humans.  Dogs owned by humans as pets number fewer than 173 million in the top  10 dog-owning countries. See chart below.

There you have it. Numbers don’t lie.

Human Study Winner: Cats-2  Dogs-2     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-2+  Dogs 0-

5) UNDERSTANDING

The human study claims that cats are cognitively similar to dogs, therefore an expected similarity in behavior patterns and abilities stands to reason. But, cats are not cooperative or motivated  to comply with the human studies so they are much harder to analyze.  Both cats and dogs are able to follow pointing gestures to find food, but when the hunt for the food is more complicated, either hidden or out of reach, dogs are most likely to ask for help from their pet parent while cats will try to figure out how to get their paws on the reward themselves.

The human study rewards the dogs for being cheaters.  We threw this category out due to its bias towards the cheating dogs.

Human Study Winner: Cats-2  Dogs-3     The  Lazy Leopard Research Institute Score: Cats-2+  Dogs 0-

Stay tuned for Dogs Smarter Than Cats Study Claims Flawed Part 2

* The Lazy Leopard Research Institute is a 100% fictitious feline biased facility.

I am a Cat and I love my ScratchKabin™

Friends, when I told you about the ScratchKabin™ the nice people from KatKabin® gave me to try, there was such a positive reaction, they decided to give a ScratchKabin™ to one lucky member of our The Tiniest Tiger community. Super Hurrah!

My Safe Place in a Storm

The ScratchKabin™ arrived at my habitat and I could not hardly wait to hop inside. I feel snug and cozy inside.    The top is curved just perfect for me to scratch and scratch and scratch.  Now when  people come to visit, or we have a mild thunderstorm, I can dash inside my ScratchKabin™ and feel safe and secure.

Super Stylish Too!

And my parents like that it is stylish and fits just perfect under the end table. The new ScratchKabin™ comes with a washable KatKushion, (which my over protective mom washed right away) a free toy hanger and  sisal mouse toy and is available in three colors; Oatmeal, Blueberry or Cocoa.  Mine is the Oatmeal.

The ScratchKabin™ Giveaway

How to Enter

This contest is now closed.  Thank you for your participation.  Stay tuned for other exciting giveaways.

Pounce on over to the KatKAbin© website and tell me below in the comments which color you would like to win.  Then tell me if you think your cat would like the ScratchKabin™ as much as me.

The Rules:

Contest closes on Tuesday, May 8 at 5 pm Eastern. Please one comment per person. I will enter all names in to Randomizer.com. The winner will be notified by email or through facebook depending on the contact information you provide.  Make sure you are watching for an email from me. The subject line will say ScratchKabin Winner.   Void where prohibited by law.

Don’t forget to enter our Hill’s Science Diet Hairball Control cat food giveaway! Pounce here.

Disclosure: We were given one ScratchKabin™  by KatKabin®.  No other compensation was awarded for this post.

Wild big cats are losing their lives to a silent killer. A plain wire snare made of barbed wire, tension cables or even bicycle brake wire, can cost less than one dollar to assemble, but they are silently killing big cats and other wildlife.  The victims of snares are quite often tigers, lions and leopards but it is not only the big cats that are being caught in the dreadful snares. Zebra, antelope, gazelle and all wildlife fall prey to the wire snares that are so widespread throughout Africa and Asia that entire wild populations have been wiped out, leaving humans and cats with nothing to eat.

Last summer I spent some time with the African Conservation Center Game Scouts near Amboseli National Park in  the Rift Valley Province of Kenya.  Here the ecosystem is mainly savannah grassland that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Vast area to search for snares

After reading about the ACC Scouts and trying to imagine what a typical day must be like for them, the experience of walking along side them  felt surreal.  Yet there I was boots on the ground ready to search.  After a brief introduction and a reminder to remain vigilant in the open bush  we began to survey the area.

Searching for snares with the African Conservation Center Scouts

We didn’t need to walk  far before observing the tracks of giraffe, zebra, ostrich and a serval.  We walked past an abandoned wart hog hole and witnessed signs that elephants had recently passed through the area. Our guide was lighthearted and jovial listening as we did our best to match the animal with their tracks.  I couldn’t help but wonder how the Scouts were able to find traces of poacher activity in this vast area, when to my untrained eye it  felt exactly like the proverbial needle in the haystack search.

About an hour into our walk, our Scout’s demeanor changed drastically. He told us to stand quietly while he jumped up onto a nearby termite mound to survey the surroundings.

Termite Mounds commonly called Ant Hills in Africa are used as observation points.

After a few moments he descended the mound and gathered us close to tell us that we were now in a very dangerous situation. He was almost certain,  poachers had recently been in this area. A misplaced broken tree limb caught his eye. Poachers use tree limbs to block a path and act as a corral to lead the animal into the snares. He said it was entirely possible  they could be watching us from afar so not to wander far from him.

Misplaced branches and other disturbances are signs that poachers might have been in the area.

With laser precision our Scout led us to more broken branches, and found tiny pieces of blue fabric tied to the twigs left like a “bread crumb” trail for the poacher’s return. We were warned to not walk between any trees, and to look closely for wire intertwined with the branches.  The only sound we could hear was the warning call of the ring necked dove as we disturbed her with our presence. Palpable tension took over  looking in silence for the deadly wire snares.

Snare found in the bush.

Then with a raised hand warning us to stop, we saw the wire snare set and ready to capture an unsuspecting animal.  Scouts were called to dismantle the snare, while we continued to search the area for additional traps.  And sure enough within a few yards, another snare was located between two trees.

Snare found in between two trees.

An untrained eye could easily walk right past the wire snares that are nearly invisible even from short range. The poachers are equipped with GPS units to help them locate and return to active snares they placed in the expansive open savannah between Kenya and Tanzania. The ACC Scouts also track poacher activity on their GPS units trying to keep tabs on active locations.  The Scouts used to be able to track the  foot prints of the poachers until the poachers began to wear the same shoes as the Kenya Wildlife Service and the ACC Scouts. Now the Scouts keep exacting records of the time and location of their searches so that a misplaced footprint can be identified.

The Scouts must rely on their finely honed observation skills to track down  poacher activity and dismantle snares before an animal is caught. Animals caught in a poacher’s snare may die quickly but often the snared animal dies a long and painful death from infection or starvation.

Both of the snares we found on our search were dismantled. I couldn’t help but think how overwhelming the search for snares must be for the ACC Scouts. Such a big problem over such a big space. But they are determined to save lives by dismantling one snare at a time.

One of the dismantled snares.

The Scouts were kind enough to take a photo of me holding one of the snares we found that day.

True Wildlife Heroes

It was an honor to walk with the African Conservation Center Scouts and to see up close the work that they do every day to help all animals.  They are true wildlife heroes.

African Conservation Center Scouts with snares. True wildlife heroes.

So today I want to share with you, how to make sure we all stay connected and socially engaged with one another in our The Tiniest Tiger community.  Here we go.

1 More Super Important Timeline Tip from The Tiniest Tiger

Step 1) Locate the little rectangle in the center of the page with the word Highlights.

The blue arrow is pointing to the little rectangle in the center of the page.

Step 2) Click on the Highlights Rectangle to see 3 choices:

Highlights, Posts by Page, and Posts by Others.

You are  able to click on the words Highlights, Posts by Page or Posts by Others to select what you would like to see.

Step 3) Select and click on the Posts by Others.

You will see the check mark move to the selection you have chosen. In this example, Posts by Others.

Step 4) You will now see that the little rectangle has the words Posts by Others.

Now you will be able to see all the wonderful photos that our Friends are sharing with us and you will not miss any important information from everyone in our The Tiniest Tiger community. When you are ready to make another selection to see Posts by Page, in our case that is me Gracey, The Tiniest Tiger, then you just click on the little rectangle in the center of the page and choose Posts by Page.

Super Easy now that we understand it better isn’t it?

This important Timeline Tip will enable us to stay connected with each other.  After all,  our community is  about the camaraderie of feline friends sharing with each other the things we love about all cats big and small.

Thank you so much for being a part of The Tiniest Tiger community.