Why Exactly Are Dogs’ Brains Getting Bigger? Scientists Don’t Really Have an Answer

Amaze Lab

In nature generally the larger the brain the smarter the creature. Well now, new research suggests that the brains of domestic dogs are getting larger, but scientists are sort of baffled as to why.

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00:00In nature, generally, the larger the brain, the smarter the creature.

00:07Well now, new research suggests that the brains of domestic dogs are getting larger.

00:12But scientists are sort of baffled as to why.

00:15Domestication has long been a mechanism for smaller brains in animals, and sort of humans

00:18as well.

00:19Over the last three millennia, anthropologists say human brains have shrunk in volume.

00:23And compared to wolves, dog-relative brain size is smaller as well.

00:27But now a new study published in the journal Evolution outlines how the more different

00:30the dog breed is from a wolf now, the larger the brain.

00:33Experts believe that when dogs were first domesticated, their brains shrunk as they

00:36no longer needed as much bandwidth as they could rely on their human best friends.

00:40But now as breeding has caused forced evolution over the last several thousand years, their

00:44cognitive abilities are likely getting better, meaning their brains are growing.

00:48With evolutionary biologist Nicholas Kolm saying about the findings, quote,

00:52Different dog breeds live in varying levels of social complexity and perform complex tasks

00:57which likely require a larger brain capacity.

00:59Though the researchers found that the only correlation of brain growth was how dissimilar

01:03the breeds were to wolves, rather than their actual cognitive abilities.

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