# Which domestic animals have long memories?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-domestic-animals-have-long-memories/538970>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-domestic-animals-have-long-memories/538970 "2010-05-10T22:02:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-domestic-animals-have-long-memories/538970/1 "2010-05-10T22:02:11Z")

</div>

Odysseus’ hound, Argos, famously recognised his master after 20 years. Elephants famously never forget. But which domestic animals really do have memories that stretch years? Which animals would recognise you after an absence of 5 years?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-domestic-animals-have-long-memories/538970/2 "2010-05-11T10:04:31Z")

</div>

> [@Quartz](#):
>
> Odysseus’ hound, Argos, famously recognised his master after 20 years. Elephants famously never forget. But which domestic animals really do have memories that stretch years? Which animals would recognise you after an absence of 5 years?

I know from personal experience that a dog will recognise you instantly after a year, so I doubt that 5 years would be a stretch. [Lions will recognise people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion)after at least 2 years, so I imagine cats would have similar memories.