The Intelligence of Cats

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...
Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com

Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

On Friday 27 July 2007 16:28, William Graham wrote:


"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...
Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight.
Human brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats
section of www.odd-info.com

Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing
that they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof
personalities sucker people into thinking they are a lot more
intelligent than they actually are.....IOW, they sure can act
intelligent.....:^)

All cetaceans have very large and highly developed brains. If we were
to judge by the brain morphology alone, we would have a great deal of
trouble believing that humans were more intelligent than dolphins, or
any cetacean for that matter.
The ratio of brain weight to body weight can be misleading. What's
important is the number of muscles controlled and the sensory
information processed, not the size of those muscles or sensors. The
part of the brain that deals with body control must be evaluated
according to the amount if information to be processed. Controlling
one muscle to contract or not takes the same brain power whether it is
a large muscle or a small muscle, so the relationship between brain
size and body size should not be expected to be linear. The brain
power required to operate an elephant's trunk, however, would be more
than that used to operate a human arm, because of the complexity of the
muscles that drive it.
All the areas of a human brain that relate to conscious thought can be
seen to be more highly developed in the caetacean. What we can say
about cats is that they appear to make very good use of the the brains
they have. We should all know that cats know how to love, of course
and they deal with a lot more sensory data that we humans get served to
our brains. A cat's intelligence is ideally suited to being a cat, and
they're all smarter than George Bush! (;-)) But then again, who isn't?

--
Regards,
Fred

Fred Williams = ****wit

William Graham wrote:

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read
that the emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to
that of a human, meaning they feel emotions the same way we do!

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


William Graham wrote:

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read that the
emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to that of a human, meaning
they feel emotions the same way we do!

I can believe that. But mine have a rather short memory and attention span.
If I do something to make them angry, they forget it in only a few minutes,
so they won't hold a grudge very long...

"William Graham" writes:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


William Graham wrote:

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read that the
emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to that of a human, meaning
they feel emotions the same way we do!

I can believe that. But mine have a rather short memory and attention span.
If I do something to make them angry, they forget it in only a few minutes,
so they won't hold a grudge very long...

Really?

I find the assertion absurd.

Cat's emotions run deep.
Providing you have food in your hand they love you.
If you die, they'll eat you.

Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but they're no intellectual giants
and they certainly make it clear that they could care less about
what their owners think.

"Dan Espen" wrote in message
...
"William Graham" writes:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


William Graham wrote:

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing
that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read that the
emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to that of a human,
meaning
they feel emotions the same way we do!

I can believe that. But mine have a rather short memory and attention
span.
If I do something to make them angry, they forget it in only a few
minutes,
so they won't hold a grudge very long...

Really?

I find the assertion absurd.

Cat's emotions run deep.
Providing you have food in your hand they love you.
If you die, they'll eat you.

Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but they're no intellectual giants
and they certainly make it clear that they could care less about
what their owners think.

You haven't met B-K. I picked him up in a Burger King parking lot the day
before Thanksgiving, 2004. He was living on French fries and onion rings and
whatever people threw at him. Today, almost 3 years later, he is still "my
cat". Unlike our other three cats, B-K likes me better than my wife, and
will come up on the bed behind me in the morning while I am putting on my
socks and stands up on his hind feet and puts his paws on my shoulders and
presses his nose against the nape of my neck and says, "Thanks, Dad." You
can't tell me that he doesn't remember how I found him, and how I saved him
from that miserable smelly, noisy life. He lets me know how thankful he is
every day. When he is outside, all I have to do is open the door and blow my
dog whistle, and he will come running, regardless of how far he is away. (We
live on the edge of town, so he could be out in the middle of the farm that
backs up our house.) In this respect, he is quite like a dog. If B-K ever
doesn't respond to my dog whistle, I will know that he is dead. I love that
cat. I pray that he will die before I do, so he won't think that I have
abandoned him.

William Graham wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


William Graham wrote:


"javawizard" wrote in message
egroups.com...


Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read that the
emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to that of a human, meaning
they feel emotions the same way we do!


I can believe that. But mine have a rather short memory and attention span.
If I do something to make them angry, they forget it in only a few minutes,
so they won't hold a grudge very long...

That's true of most humans, too! (Not holding a grudge, I
mean - although when it comes to politics, human memory and
attention span also appear to be rather short.)

"Dan Espen" wrote in message
...
"William Graham" writes:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote
in message
...


William Graham wrote:

"javawizard" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cats have been rated as the most intelligent animals under
primates.
Cats' brains weigh about one percent of their total body
weight. Human
brains weight two percent of our total weight. - from the
cats section
of www.odd-info.com


Although I love cats, I would have a great deal of trouble
believing that
they were more intelligent than dolphins, or several other
non-primates......I will say this, however....Their aloof
personalities
sucker people into thinking they are a lot more intelligent
than they
actually are.....IOW, they sure can act intelligent.....:^)

I don't know about the rest of it's brain, but I've read that
the
emotional cortex of a cat's brain is identical to that of a
human, meaning
they feel emotions the same way we do!

I can believe that. But mine have a rather short memory and
attention span.
If I do something to make them angry, they forget it in only a
few minutes,
so they won't hold a grudge very long...

Really?

I find the assertion absurd.

Cat's emotions run deep.
Providing you have food in your hand they love you.
If you die, they'll eat you.

Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but they're no intellectual
giants
and they certainly make it clear that they could care less
about
what their owners think.

well, there ya go. NO ONE owns a cat )
silly human

Sara