How do we know how smart animals are?

Bigger animal species have bigger brains. They may not be more intelligent, for example an elephant’s brain is five times bigger than ours, you just need more brain cells to run a bigger body. So scientists have developed an Encephalization Quotient (EQ) (translation – brain size quotient). This EQ is calculated by figuring out what brain size the animal should have given it’s body size and comparing that to the brain size it actually has. Given humans came up with this quotient it isn’t surprising that we top the list by a long shot on ~7, next up is a small peruvian dolphin on about ~4, but this is the internet so we all want to know about cats and dogs right? Well cats come out second best in this department with 1 and dogs are miles ahead on 1.2! So boom town, dogs are better than cats. Debate settled.