According to a study published in the scientific journal Royal Society Open Science on the 26th, the brain of cats has shrunk over 10,000 years. The researchers suggest that domestication may have changed the way these animals’ brains develop.
To reach that conclusion, the scientists compared the cranial measurements of modern domestic cats with those of two of their closest wild ancestors: Africans (Felis lybic a) and European wildcats (Felis silvestris).
“Selection by domestication of animals may have caused a negative regulation in the migration and proliferation of neural crest cells [uma célula que desempenha um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento do sistema nervoso], leading to decreased excitability and fear. However, this negative regulation can also cause changes in the stress response and brain size.
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Cats Brain Decreased: What Does It Mean?
According to the study, this reduction in the size of the brains of domestic cats does not necessarily mean that they have a lower cognitive ability than a wild cat. The team estimates that the changes are linked to a very early stage, in which the animal is still an embryo and is just beginning to develop neural crest cells.
It is worth taking a look at the question that this phenomenon has already been seen in many other species of animals. The article cites sheep, rabbits and dogs, for example. In fact, even the brains of human beings have shrunk over the millennia. Scientists reinforce, among several works, that the reduction in brain size is not necessarily related to intelligence.
