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 Individual Variation
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Domestic vs. Wild Cats
In essence, what we have found is that the visual system of the wild cat and the domestic cat differ in substantial ways. Domestic cats have fewer ganglion cells in the retina and have smaller LGNs (lateral geniculate nucleus, part of the thalamus). In addition, they have fewer total neurons involved in the visual system of the brain. Finally, the sizes of neurons do not change between the wild and domestic cats.
Perhaps we can explain these changes by looking at "domestication". Through cohabitation with humans, different reproductive and food-search patterns, this process has caused significant changes in the behavior of cats. Thus, does it seem reasonable to assume that there are accompanying brain changes?
Yes-- that is a great assumption! In this case, it appears that behavioral changes are related to structural differences in the brain.
(It is interesting to consider where or how these structural differences arose. Although we won't discuss that here, read this paper for more information.)
So, we've seen that domestic cats and wild cats behave differently and their brains are different. Of course, they're not so different as the difference between an owl and a dolphin. How about brain differences between individuals who are more closely related? Do we expect to see much variation between animals of, say, the same species?
 Let's look at a variation within songbirds!
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