Your Dog May Be Dumb, But It's Brain Has More Folds Than a Cat's

When it comes to the anatomy of the brain, the more folds it has, the better.  This is because the folds create more surface area on the brain, which in turn creates more area for neurons to be, which in turn allows for more storing of information.  A month or two ago in my Psychology class, we briefly touched upon the brains of other animals.  I particularly remember the brains of the domestic dog and the domestic cat.  Even though it often seems, especially in my house, that my cat is a whole lot smarter than my dog, a quick look at the brains of both pets indicates otherwise.  The cats brain is pretty smooth in comparison to the brain of the dog.  If you think about the major differences between these two carnivores, one obvious difference sticks out like a football player in a group of people going to see the Hobbit premiere this weekend who are fully decked out in Lord of the Rings gear and are all Hobbit-sized: dogs are social creatures, while cats have a much more limited social capacity.  This probably helps to explain why your cat will suddenly and randomly bite you after you have been so lovingly petting her in your lap while she is purring.  They just don't know how to handle that much attention!  They also don't have any built-in social protocol.  Think about a socially awkward child: the situation is similar, except for the child it is simply that they had a different upbringing and not usually a matter of brain size.  Or maybe cats are just insane.

Anyways, as you can see by comparing the brains of the cat (above) and the dog (below), the dog has many more folds in its brain.  This makes sense, because the social interaction component would need more brain area to successfully function.

REAL FAST:  BELOW IS A HUMAN BRAIN FOR COMPARISON.

So with this in mind, it would make sense that the brain of the lion would be larger than, say, the brain of the leopard, now, wouldn't it?  Since the lion is a social animal, you would definitely think that.  This doesn't seem to be the case, however.  I did a little digging and couldn't really come up with much, but if I had to hazard a guess I would say its because the lion has the pride to fall back upon, so they don't necessarily need to be smart ALL of the time.  Also, leopards are extremely acrobatic, and spend a lot of time in the trees.  I suspect that this might also affect things, but I guess I don't know!  When I attempted to research it, literally all I could find was a bunch of Internet people comparing operating systems (?) called "Lion" and "Snow Leopard." 

Next we are going to compare the brains of the wolf and the red fox.  As you can see below, here our "Social Interaction=Big Brain" hypothesis is sound.  Not only does the wolf have a lot more folds in its brain, you can also see that the canyons created by the folds themselves are much, much deeper, which creates more surface area. 

Finally, let us compare the brains of the polar bear and the black bear.  HOLY.  COW.  As you can quite clearly see in the pictures below, the polar bear has MUCH more surface area on its brain than the black bear.  Now if you think about it, the environment that the polar bear is forced to survive in is much harsher than that of the black bear.  IN OUR POST ABOUT THE POLAR BEAR, we featured a video IN WHICH THE POLAR BEARS ARE PLAYING WITH SPY CAMERAS.  As the narrator points out, the curiosity of the polar bears is their "best hope for the future."  In their ever-changing world of ice and snow, which is now unfortunately melting, this curiosity is often what helps them survive the long, lean summers after the melting of the pack-ice, as well as the long, dark and cold winters.  Hopefully this brain power will be enough to sustain their populations in the future!

Daisy Post-Dentist, Yoga Bear, and Giraffe Feeding

So, as you probably know, I am still working to get all of my videos uploaded from our behind the scenes experience at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and to be able to give you guys an overview of what we did at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last Friday.  In the meantime, I am going to treat you to a few of these videos that I have uploaded, as well as another video that I made yesterday, and another pretty cool video!

Myself feeding the giraffes

So as I told you before, we were able to feed the giraffes!  Here is a brief video of both Masaki and myself feeding them lettuce.  This is the first time that I have gone to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when they have fed them lettuce, in the past it has always been crackers.  This, apparently, is to keep the giraffes healthier.  Makes sense!

Masaki and I Feed the Giraffes

I also uploaded the video from the grizzly bear experience, the one where one of the bears is doing what the keepers call the "Yoga Bear."  There were two bears there, and I don't recall whether it was Emmett or Digger who was doing the "Yoga Bear."  You will be able to see clearly why it is called that in the video, as well as in the picture below!  Apparently this is a behavior that was not taught into the bear, and is an action that has been observed before in wild bears, both in the wild and in wild bears that have been brought into captivity.  This particular bear apparently did it once when he was first brought to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from California (I believe), but then didn't do it again for four years.  Now he does it all the time apparently, as the keepers will typically reward that kind of behavior.  Enjoy the video!

The "Yoga Bear!"

The "Yoga Bear!"

Next up is our dog, Daisy, who is a beagle-basset mix.  Daisy went to the dentist's office yesterday morning, where they had to put her under in order to clean her teeth.  When she came back, she was still pretty drugged, and kept falling asleep while she was sitting up, barely able to keep her eyes open!  I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do!  Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear our cat, Chimney, howling for food in the background.  Enjoy!

Daisy the Dog, Post Dentist Appointment

Finally, for those of you who haven't heard about the record-breaking leap made by Felix Baumgartner yesterday, click HERE to learn more!  It was some pretty astonishing stuff!

Cascade on Dwellable

Eye Shine....What Is It?

Eyeshine is a very common occurence amongst nocturnal animals.  Have you ever tried to take a picture of your dog and cat, but their eyes are glowing a very odd color?  Or you have been watching Animal Planet or another similar channel, and they show a night-vision scene, with the animals eyes glowing?  This is eye shine.  It is caused by a reflective layer in the eyeball, called the tapetum lucidum.

Tapetum lucidum in an armored dog

For nocturnal animals, seeing in the dark of night can be a problem.  Some animals counter this with extra large eyes.  This works well for nocturnal animals, sure: but think about in the morning, when you first wake up.  If someone comes into your room and just opens up the window shade, you might not be very happy, as your eyes generally need some time to adjust to the lighting conditions.  If you had gigantic eyes, this problem would be magnified even more.  So many animals that are active during both the night and the day have evolved something else; little mirrors in their eyes.

You can clearly see that the angle of tilt of the head makes the eyeshine much more intense in the left eye of this chubby cat

Here is essentially what happens.  When light hits our eyes, it is absorbed.  This gives us humans one chance to absorb the light that we can.  When light hits the eyes of, say, a dog or cat, or any other animal active at any time of the day, some of the light is absorbed, while some of the light is reflected back to the object the animal is viewing.  The light hits the object, and then bounces again back to the animal, giving it essentially a second chance to view the object.