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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