Ever since humanity split into dog and cat people, we've been arguing over which one of our beloved companions is a smarter species.

自从人类分裂为汪星人和喵星人，我们就一直在争论，在这两种备受喜爱的伙伴中，哪种更聪明。

A study from 2017 mightn't be the last word on the matter, but for those who think more neurons means more intelligence, it looks as if dogs stand out among carnivores for having a remarkably¹ dense² cerebral³ cortex.

2017年的一项研究可能无法给这件事下最终定论，但是对于那些认为神经元越多就越聪明的人来说，似乎在肉食动物中，狗出类拔萃，因为狗的大脑皮层神经元十分密集。

An international team of researchers analysed the wrinkled outer layers of the brains of a variety of carnivorous animals - including dogs and cats - to determine whether the demands of hunting prey⁴ mean a higher count of cortical neurons, adding brain power where it counts.

一个国际研究员小组分析了多种食肉动物的大脑褶皱外层，包括狗和猫，以此判断捕猎的需求是否意味着皮质神经元比例更高，增加有需要的地方的脑力。

"I believe the absolute number of neurons an animal has, especially in the cerebral cortex, determines the richness of their internal mental state and their ability to predict what is about to happen in their environment based on past experience," said neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel from Vanderbilt University in the US.

来自美国范德堡大学的神经学家苏珊娜·埃尔库拉诺·乌泽尔说，“我相信动物神经元的绝对数量，特别是大脑皮层神经元的数量，决定了动物的心理状态的丰富程度以及基于经验预测环境中即将发生的事情的能力。”

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So is it time to give dogs their due?

那么现在是时候给狗说句公道话了?

"I'm 100 percent a dog person," Herculano-Houzel confesses, "but, with that disclaimer, our findings mean to me that dogs have the biological capability⁵ of doing much more complex and flexible things with their lives than cats can."“我是百分百的汪星人。”埃尔库拉诺·乌泽尔坦白说，“但是，我放弃说，我们的研究结果对我来说意味着，狗有这种生理上的能力，可以比猫做更复杂更灵活的事情。”

Capability might not necessarily be realised as intelligence, of course. Cats are notoriously harder to study - not because they're stupid, but because frankly⁶ they just don't care for our 'science'.

当然，能力并不一定能解读为智力。众所周知，要研究猫很困难。并不是因为猫很笨，而是坦白来说，它们不在乎我们的‘科学’”

And if you're a dog person cracking out the champagne⁷ to celebrate anyway, here's one more fun fact.

如果你是个汪星人，打开香槟来庆祝狗更聪明的话，这里还有一个有趣的事实。

The real oddball carnivore is the racoon - even though it's close to cats in terms of size, it actually has a similar number of neurons to dogs. Considering raccoons can smash intelligence tests, we're not surprised.

真正怪异的肉食动物是浣熊。虽然浣熊体型和猫很接近，但实际上它们的神经元数量和狗差不多。说到到浣熊能碾压智力测试，我们并不惊讶。