Its Dogs, not cats who are super smartypants

London, Jun 17: Cat owners might want to skip reading the following lines - a new study has found that dogs are smarter than felines.

Up till now, it was widely believed cats are super smartypants while pooches stand no chance in front of them, when it comes to intelligence. However with the latest study, which involved thought processes of 15 felines, tables have been turned.

To reach the conclusion, the volunteer cats were tested by attaching food to the end of lengths of string and observing whether they could figure out that pulling the line brought the treats closer.

When it came to tackling single pieces of string cats had no problem. But, when faced with two options, experts discovered that unlike their canine counterparts, cats were unable to consistently pick a baited string over a dummy, reports The Telegraph.

Psychology lecturer Britta Osthaus, of Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, who conducted the study, said: "This finding is somehow surprising as cats regularly use their paws and claws to pull things towards them during play and hunting.

"They performed even worse than dogs, which can at least solve the parallel string task."

She added that the results show that cats do not understand cause-and-effect connections between objects.

Osthaus added: "I am not trying to say cats are stupid, just they are different. We are so anthropomorphic we can't see the world through their eyes."

ANI