Dogs

Humans are smarter then dogs. Before you start saying "wow, what amazing insight Bryan" I think I should explain how I positively reached that conclusion.

There are degrees of intelligence, and intelligence is best measured by the ability of an animal to survive in their natural habitat. Humans are deemed to be very smart for their ability to solve complex problems that other species cannot. This is a reflection of the human brain being the main organ for humans as opposed to sensory organs. This makes humans one-of-a-kind in Mother Nature's circus as other animals rely on keen senses to survive. Observe the owl with his incredible hearing and eyesight, or the koala's powerful sense of smell that can detect poison in leaves. Humans don't have these abilities. We have a powerful brain that processes the data from all the sensory organs to solve a complex problem while none of the senses are finely tuned. In other words, humans do not have the best eyesight, speed, hearing, smell, or even very good senses (relatively speaking) but the ability of the brain to comprehend different data at the rate it does makes up for these deficiencies against highly skilled animals.

How does this prove we are smarter then dogs? Well, if we consider intelligence as only being relative to an animals ability to survive in a natural habitat we must first define what a dog's natural habitat is. Dogs have long-since been domesticated and we must queary whether dogscan infact survive without humans. While cats for the most part continue to hunt long after being domesticated, it is safe to assume that most dogs will not survive in the same way, especially dogs that are specifically bred to be an aid to humans (poodles, spotters, setters, etc). Attack dogs like German Shepards and Pitbulls may stand a better chance but ultimately they rely on humans for survival. Thus it is safe to say that a dogs natural enviroment is a human (especially but not exclusively domestic) enviroment.

Now, the ability to survive bit. As dogs rely on humans we cannot judge intelligence by the ability to hunt or seek shelter from predators. Owing to their enviroment we can only go on the interactions dogs have with humans. Dogs will tend to bark as a way to communicate with us, chiefly that they are hungry, wish to go outside, desire attention or that a strange person (to them) is around. Their inability to differ forms of communication to better get the message across means that they are relying on the human brain to figure out what they want. That relience is a sign of human superiority in language. Another sign of human intelligence over canines (which is what got me started thinking about this whole thing) is the showing of teeth. A dog will seldom raise his lip to reveal his teath unless he is making a threat. It follows that when a dog sees a stranger (or even their owner) show teeth then it is a threat to them. As any human will tell you, a smile is not a threat. Dogs, not being able to comprehend this, show that humans hold the trump card.

Don't get me wrong about this. I like dogs, especially the big fluffy huskies and labradors. But humans are ultimately smarter. Yay humans.