Scientists have looked into whether wild cats are smarter than domestic cat. Their study is entitled: “Are domesticated animals dumber than their wild relatives? A comprehensive review on the domestication effects on animal cognitive performance.” I discuss the study below and start off with a general discussion on the difficulties in making a comparison.
Comparing intelligence is tricky
It’s probably worth saying that when comparing the intelligence of wild cats and domestic cats (I’m focusing on cats for obvious reasons) we have to take into account the complex nature of intelligence and the difficulties in trying to measure it objectively.
It is probably reasonable to suggest that it is impossible to compare intelligence between wild cats and domestic cats accurately and therefore a definitive answer can’t be provided.
Domestic cats have been selectively bred over around 9,500 years as companions to humans. They’ve lost some of their aggression over this time and in some instances their hunting skills have been compromised. In short, they are less good at it compared to their wild cat relatives. Their voices have changed. Listen to a small wild cat species and be amazed at the aggression in their sounds.
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But then wild cats such as tigers and cheetahs have evolved to survive in a specific and natural environment which requires complex hunting strategies. Their survival depends upon these abilities and to adapt to their surroundings and navigate. This provides them with a certain kind of cognitive ability which is probably slightly different to that of the domestic cat.
Domestic cats have learned to adapt to the human environment. They’ve learned to respond to human cues and have become quite sociable within this unusual environment. Arguably they have greater social intelligence compared to wild cat species. They are better at communicating with people obviously and have learned to make demands of people. Domestic cats will be better at problem-solving within the human environment compared to wild cats while the wild cat species are better at surviving within the wild and natural environment.
This brings to mind an often-asked question about whether domestic cats can survive on the back of their own skills in the wild. Many would not. They are just too domesticated which is indicative of how selective breeding within domestication enhances certain skills and reduces others. This impacts upon a comparison of intelligence between domestic and wild cats.
Intelligence is multifaceted which makes it very challenging to make a definitive comparison.
The study
I can refer to the findings of the study which is online. In summary, the researchers found that domesticated animals are not dumber than their wild relatives. They refute the “widely held belief that domesticated species are inherently less “intelligent” (i.e., have lower cognitive performance) than their wild counterparts.”
They thoroughly reviewed 88 studies comparing the intelligence of domesticated and wild animals and concluded that 30% of the studies showed that wild animals were smarter than domestic animals. On the other hand, 30% concluded that domestic animals were smarter than wild animals. Of the remaining 40%, the conclusion was that domestic and wild animals had similar cognitive performance.
“Therefore, the question regarding the presumed intelligence of wild animals and the diminished cognitive ability of domesticated animals remains unresolved.”
In short, we cannot at the moment state that domestic cats have been dumbed down by around 10,000 years of domestication. Their wildcat counterparts and ancestors are not smarter according to the study.
Comment: I would challenge the study’s findings. I think the North African wildcat, the domestic cat’s ancestor, is slightly smarter than today’s domestic cat. But it is almost impossible to make a good comparison for the reasons stated above.
Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105407
Example of the difficulties in comparing intelligences
Nathan Winograd in an email to me provides us with a nice example of how experts can come to the wrong conclusions. In one study reviewed by the scientists I have referred to, they compared the problem-solving skills of wolves and dogs. The authors concluded that wolves could solve problems better than dogs and that dogs were “denatured wolves”. They’d simply lost their ability to problem solve as efficiently.
And according to Winograd, the study authors “correctly showed differences between wolves and dogs regarding problem-solving, [but] the authors reached the wrong conclusion”.
The closer the relationship between humans and dogs the more likely it is that the dogs will approach their human companion and ask them through body language and vocalisations to solve the problem for them! You could argue that dogs are behaving more intelligently in doing this than trying to solve the problem themselves. And it certainly doesn’t show that wolves are more intelligent than dogs or that dogs can’t solve these problems.
