Do you own a cat and a dog? If you do, you might want to try Twitter's viral 'Cat Vs. Dog Challenge'. In the challenge, pet owners set up a sort of 'obstacle course' using various household items for their pets to maneuver themselves into to get through the hallway.
The difference between cats and dogs is apparent in the videos taken by the owners and is pretty fascinating to watch. In most videos, you can see how pet cats pass through the obstacles with finesse. On the other hand, dogs clumsily stumble and ruin the whole set up prepared by their owners. The hilarious difference between the pets' responses is what makes the challenge so popular.
In the first video, you can see a little black cat cautiously walking past the products laid out on the floor. The cat creeps through the items slowly so everything stays in place. When the dog's turn came, it ran excitedly to its master, sweeping all products on the floor as it went.
In the second video, the owner diligently arranged domino blocks in the hallway in three difficulty levels. The first level used 70 dominoes, while the second and third levels used 140 and 200 dominoes, respectively. The pet cat tactfully went through the three levels with no hesitation.
The pet dog, on the other hand, managed to go through the maze of dominoes but knocked a few pieces along the way. It curiously sniffed some pieces that caused them to fall over.
People love comparing how other animals reacted to different circumstances. The challenge has shown us that cats tend to be confident and careful, while dogs are clumsy but definitely more cheerful. However, when it comes to the question of which is better, answers would vary for a lot of different people.
But Really-- Which One is Better? Dogs or Cats?
The answer to this question depends on who you're asking. If you ask scientists, they would say that evidence points to dogs being mentally and neurologically more capable than cats.
A study published in 2017 in the journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy revealed that dogs have around 530 million cortical neurons, compared to a cat's average of just 250 million neurons. Although the study revealed that cats have larger brains than dogs, there appears to be a higher level of functioning going on inside canine minds.
If you were to look at it from an evolutionary point of view, however, scientists would say that cats are more superior. Studies reveal that the cat family has historically been much better at surviving than the dog clan.
According to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2015, the arrival of cats to North America had a deadly blow on the diversity of the dog family. The influx of cats prompted a period of sudden decline among the dog clan.
Dr. Daniele Silvestro of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, the report's lead author, said that the occurrence had left North America with just nine species of wild dog today, comprising different variations of wolves and foxes.
When it comes down to the end, no one can say which pet is better. Both are intelligent and good in their own ways. What matters most is that they both bring joy to the lives of their owners, just like how their owners bring cheer to theirs.