Did you know?: House Cat's Brain is Very Simular to a Humans Brain in form and function.

This is most likely nothing new to a few people but I found something during my little informational wanderings I thought was interesting....

The Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
size of the average cat is 5 centimeters in length and 30 gramGram
The gram , ; symbol g, is a Physical unit of mass.Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" , a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or Scientific notation kg, which itself is...
s. Since the average cat is 60 cm long and 3.3 kg, the brain makes up 1/12 of its lengthLength
Length is the long dimension of any object. The length of a thing is the distance between its ends, its linear extent as measured from end to end....
and 1/110 of its massMass
In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
. Thus, the average cat's brain accounts for 0.9 percent of its total body mass, compared to 2 percent of total body mass in the average humanHuman
A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
. The surface area of a cat's cerebral cortexCerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a structure within the brain that plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness....
is approximately 83 cm². The modern human cerebral cortex is about 2500 cm².(*) Interestingly, cat brains have been shown to be more similar to human brains than other domesticated animals. According to researchers at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the physical structure of human brains and that of cats are very similar; they have the same lobes in the cerebral cortex (the "seat" of intelligence) as humans do. Human brains also function the same way, conveying data via identical neurotransmitters.

SOURCE:www.absoluteastronomy.com...

Which really doesn't suprise me. We share alot of behaviorial characteristics with cats in my opinion. We both exhibit a mix of social and solitary behaviors for one.

Thoughts? Comments?


[edit on 28-10-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

Being a cat lover as well as owning a highly intelligent breed of cat (Oriental), I would have to agree that cats display many human like qualities... though it's possible I'm just projecting onto the animal. He has a massive vocabulary and we also have to spell things in front of him. He either thinks that he is human or that we are cats. I haven't quite worked that one out yet!

IRM

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Most likely thinks your another cat. And interestingly enough they suposedly learn like us as well.

[edit on 29-10-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

I've had cats all my life, and let me tell you, those things are *WIERD*. It's like they just got off the Mother Ship or something. I cannot see how cats' brains are similar to humans...

They sleep about 20 hours a day. They chase after (or are chased by) absolutely nothing. They'll both sit staring at a place on the wall, as though looking at a bug. But there's no bug. But their eyes track whatever it is, even though it's invisible. Obviously they're trying to creep me out. They succeed very well.

No, I'm sorry, I think that cats could very well be the aliens we've all been looking for.

Oh, and BTW - no one *owns* a cat.

[edit on 10/29/2009 by chiron613]

reply to post by chiron613


In many ways they are simuliar though.

Cats and humans share similiar X and Y chromosomes

Researchers, acting as "genetic paleontologists," recently discovered that the X and Y chromosomes of cats and humans are remarkably alike, despite the fact that the two species haven't shared a common ancestor for about 90 million years—around the same time the human line diverged from goats, sheep, and cows.

SOURCE:www.genomenewsnetwork.org...

Cockyness and Anger in Humans and Cats

Felines do not emit as refined signals as apes and of course they can't make gestures, because they have no hands. However, there are some body language characteristics observed in humans which can also be seen in cats . Most notably are the expressions of cockiness and anger.

Humans express self satisfaction, pride or cockiness by walking very erect and throwing their head back and thrusting the chin forward. The equivalent behavior, typical to cats, is the stalking or prancing around, head up and tail in the air.

When humans are shocked or extremely frightened, the hair on their arms and sometimes their neck literally stands on end. The same applies to felines. Adrenaline rush causes the phenomenon. Raised hackles in humans as well as in cats signify fear, imminent aggression or shock. The same applies to dilated pupils. The human eye tends to expand involuntarily in extreme situations just as it does in cats.

SOURCE:www.brighthub.com...

Check out my thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Based on a sketch of a cat's skull seen from lower revers camera angle.

Originally posted by chiron613
They'll both sit staring at a place on the wall, as though looking at a bug. But there's no bug. But their eyes track whatever it is, even though it's invisible. Obviously they're trying to creep me out. They succeed very well.

This is what I love the best about them. I think its a bit scary but its very common that they stare at a corner for a long time, focused on... something that I cant see.

Its creepy but very interesting.


[edit on 29-10-2009 by Copernicus]

I've always had cats, and they are fantastic. I agree my kitty's definitely think they are human, and that's fine I just keep giving them new things to learn. I've had one potty train herself, although I need to work on the flushing . I usually keep most of doors slightly closed, but I have toddler grasps on some of the doors, the cat has taught herself (or watched to kids) on how to open a closed door and she will even shut it behind her, not always but I've noticed when she is crabby she will close the doors. I usually keep the coat closet door closed, but sometimes someone will forget to close it all the way, I have witnessed her closing it back up on more than one occasion. She also likes to be held like a baby in my arms (only me) or over the shoulder in a "burping" position. She also has a type of meow that sounds exactly like she's saying "mom", and it was brought to my attention by guests so I'm not the only one that has heard it, nor did I mention it out of fear of being the "crazy cat lady". Hmmm.....I think I'm out of examples at the moment. But the brain size doesn't shock me they are very intelligent. Actually, when I was in school we had to dissect a cat because most of their body systems are very similar to humans.

reply to post by Copernicus


Yeah, mine does the same thing sometimes she chases it. It's freaked us out on more than one occasion. Sometimes she watches, and sometimes she goes after it.

Egyptians were obsessed with cats, and many graves contain mumified cats. They were actually hiring cats in their mills and corn deposits. They were seen as mystical beings and BA incarnations of Bastet and Shu.

Actually, all vertebrates have the same sort of brain structure. Cats have more visual cortex and auditory cortex than humans, and there are many other differences.

They are, sadly, used in brain research... mainly because so many people abandon cats. Disposable in life, they become tools of study to be euthanized.

I really hate cat research. I've encountered it, and I hate it.

reply to post by Byrd


Yes I hate it too. But I am biased. Do you mind if I ask for the source of your first assertion though?

Cats are alright, my girlfriend has two, but they're about as intelligent as a bag of hammers on a good day.

I think you have to overlay some serious anthropomorphizing to imagine they share any sort of characteristics with humans...

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


You lose me at the blanket generalization. Just because individual cats can be stupid does not mean the species is, rather like humans.

double post

[edit on 29-10-2009 by platipus]

reply to post by InfaRedMan


how if ur cat sees another cat?
looks in a mirror?

and compares to u(human)

i think it would pretty much know what it is by then

[edit on 29-10-2009 by platipus]

reply to post by Watcher-In-The-Shadows


I don't think so... my old room mate had cats, my friends have cats, cats are everywhere! I've never witnessed a glimmer of anything approaching intelligence in them personally. Although I've always had dogs, so maybe we have different standards of intelligence.

I wish someone could explain to me why a cat only wags his tail when he is mad and a dog wags his tail when he is happy?

And as for the article...this sounds like pseudo-something. I don't buy it.

reply to post by Watcher-In-The-Shadows


I'd say so.

Our cat's have a personality.

The other night my cat was bugging me, so I got up to see what he wanted.

he wanted me to turn the lights on in the kitchen so he could find his food.

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


Sounds like a case of bias on both our parts. I openly admit mine.