# If meat eating means bigger brains, explain cats. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396 "2013-01-26T02:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/21 "2013-01-27T00:24:20Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Lions are the only felines that use complex social hunting. So, are their brains larger than the solo hunting tigers? I’m thinking they aren’t. Interestingly enough,[tigers have relatively larger brains not only than lions, but also the similarly solo hunting jaguar and leopard.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6126082/Tigers-are-brainier-than-lions.html) Although there may be a correlation between brains and sociality in some groups, a recent analysis suggests that[this does not hold true within the Carnivora as a group.](http://www.livescience.com/3626-questions-purpose-big-brains.html) > [@](#): > > “Increased brain size may mean different things to different groups, depending on unique evolutionary histories, ecologies, life history attributes etc.,” he said. “That is to say, it might be that seeking simple, one-size-fits-all explanations across all mammals (or all amniotes [animals such as birds, mammals and reptiles that give birth to young inside eggs]) has been the problem all along. Nevertheless, seeking general explanations (and then testing them with all available data), within clades or across groups, is a valuable goal of evolutionary studies.” ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/22 "2013-01-27T00:46:36Z")
all I know is Once Upon A Time I had two cats and the one that was dumb as a box of rocks was very, very happy and the Scary Smart One (seen playing practical jokes!!) was moody and frequently bored or depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/23 "2013-01-27T00:48:07Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > all I know is Once Upon A Time I had two cats and the one that was dumb as a box of rocks was very, very happy and the Scary Smart One (seen playing practical jokes!!) was moody and frequently bored or depressed. Aside from being an anecdote about cats, what does this have to do with the subject of the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/24 "2013-01-27T00:56:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Aside from being an anecdote about cats, what does this have to do with the subject of the thread? Cuteness needs no relevance. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/25 "2013-01-27T01:21:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If this is what you had said, I wouldn’t have taken issue with your post. You implied that cat brain size might be inexplicable, rather than exactly what might be expected. While there is no hard and fast link between brain size and carnivory, examining deviations from the correlation can give insight into other evolutionary factors involved (such as sociality). No disagreement. I wrote… poorly. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396/26 "2013-01-27T01:33:16Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Cuteness needs no relevance. In MPSIMS, maybe, but this is GQ.😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-meat-eating-means-bigger-brains-explain-cats/648396.md?page=1)