Researchers found that kitties who don’t have to hunt for survival have smaller brains
A study published in the Royal Society Open Science Journal on Wednesday has confirmed scientific suspicion that animals domesticated by humans experience a shrinking in brain size. European and African wildcats both have larger brains than the housebound felines we keep as pets.
Researchers for decades have argued that domestication shrank cat brains, with several studies in the 1960s and 1970s comparing brain sizes between domestic cats and their wild ancestors. However, the latest study compared modern wildcats with modern house cats and came to the same conclusion.
“Our data indicates that domestic cats indeed, have smaller cranial volumes (implying smaller brains) relative to both European wildcats (Felis silvestris) and the wild ancestors of domestic cats, the African wildcats (Felis lybica), verifying older results,” the researchers explained in their new paper.
Furthering their argument that domestication was the cause of this change, they described how hybrids of domestic cats and European wildcats “have cranial volumes that cluster between those of the two parent species.”
Domestication and its consequences have been a disaster for other animals too, with sheep, dogs, and rabbits all experiencing shrinking brains as we domesticated them. On the other hand, domestication has decreased aggression and the will to wander in these animals, making them more useful to humans, for example as working companions in the case of dogs.
Human brains have also shrunk in the past 3,000 years, although scientists have not conclusively linked this change with our gradual slide to self-domestication and sedentary lifestyles.
Some scientists argue that cats are only “semi-domesticated,” and that their relationship with humans is beneficial only to the cats. However, the researchers refute this claim, pointing to their usefulness in keeping grain harvests safe from rodents, and our tendency to favor docility when breeding them.
There are currently somewhere between 200 and 600 million tame cats in the world, making them the world’s most popular household pet. According to figures from Dalia Research, a German firm, Russians are the most cat-crazy people in the world, with 59% owning a feline companion.
source: RT
Împotriva articolelor redacției noastre, persoanele nemulțumite pot formula Contestație în termen de 10 zile de la publicarea articolului, la judecătoria Orășenească nr. 1 München Bayern Deutschland, in conformitate cu Legea federală Germană. Considerăm că nu se pot formula acțiuni la instanțele din România deoarece nici o persoană care activează în trustul nostru nu poate fi extrasă de sub jurisdicția federală germană. Considerăm că redacția noastră nu răspunde în fața autorităților din România ci doar celor federale sau civile germane. deoarece legea română nu are efecte de extraneitate asupra redacției chiar dacă subiectul știrilor face obiectul unor evenimente sau persoane din România și sunt scrise în limba română. Limba română nu este izvor de extraneitate a legii.
absolvent WEB DESIGN Academia Britanică de Comunicare Iasi - absolvent COMUNICARE IN AFACERI Academia Britanica de Afaceri si Comunicare -absolvent JURNALISM EDITORIAL - London School University - 2019 inscris la echivalare diploma la Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara - absolvent studii de Drept Universitatea Europeană Drăgan, cursuri in Drept la Universitatea de Vest Timisoara, absolvent studii de proiectare, pastor coordonator in Biserica Protestanta Evanghelica,
Android Developer pe Google Play și plugin developer la Oxwall, creator de teme Wordpress și Oxwall, operator Wordpress, Drupal, Oxwall, Osclass, Moodle, tehnologii HTML și PHP
Scientists have used an AI tool to identify which animals are most likely to contract and spread mutated versions of Covid-19. The model highlighted both pets and wild animals as likely reservoirs for the virus. Using information about their habitats and various biological traits, researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York […]
The risk of ending up in the hospital is two-thirds lower with Omicron, according to new UK research The UK Health Security Agency has said that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is much less likely to cause hospitalization than the Delta variant. The latest data suggests the risk is one-third of that for Delta. On […]
Hyundai and Kia are recalling nearly half a million vehicles in the US amid concern they may catch fire even when stopped Hyundai and Kia will recall some 485,000 vehicles in the US and are telling owners to park their cars outside because they can catch fire even when stopped, the US National Highway Traffic […]
