They look cute, right? That may be because we—and by that I mean all of us—have been shrinking their brains.
A recent paper by biologist Raffaela Lesch and her colleagues examines the changing size of domesticated cat brains. Live Science summarizes it.
Part of the process of domesticating mammals involves breeding their brains to be smaller. This may not be intentional, but it happens consistently.
Cats are no different. But over the past 10,000 years, domesticated cats have been getting dumber. Or, to be more precise, their brains have gotten smaller.
When compared to the African wildcat, which is the closest living relative to your Fluffy, modern domesticated cats have a brain that is 25% smaller.
-via Shaun | Photo: London looks