---
title: "Domestic cat · Animals and other organisms · Entities · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/entities/cat
description: "About 250 million neurons in the cerebral cortex."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

[Entities](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/entities) › Animals and other organisms › Mammals

# Domestic cat

Felis catus

About 250 million neurons in the cerebral cortex.

Neurons

1.22 billion measured  · whole brain 

Jardim-Messeder D et al. (2017). Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain: trade-off between body mass and number of neurons in the cerebral cortex of large carnivoran species. Front Neuroanat 11:118\. doi:10.3389/fnana.2017.00118.

In the cerebral cortex (or bird pallium)

250 million

Jardim-Messeder D et al. (2017). Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain: trade-off between body mass and number of neurons in the cerebral cortex of large carnivoran species. Front Neuroanat 11:118\. doi:10.3389/fnana.2017.00118.

The [New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness](https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/declaration) (2024) finds strong scientific support for conscious experience in mammals and birds.

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