P E T S
BEASTIAL
ATHLETICISM
Scientists are now confirming what philosophers have known for years.
There is an intimate link between cognitive skills and physical fitness. Studies
are helping find the connection that lies in the evolutionary history of all
creatures, with surprising gaps between men, apes and other mammals.
By Walter Tarello (DVM, MRCVS, MA Cardiology)
“Mens sana in corpore sano’ (‘A sound mind lives in a healthy body’) (Juvenal, Satire X, 55-127 A.D.)
Brain and brawn
Small animals with a quicker metabolism, like
chipmunks, live fast and die young. Chipmunks
process visual information with high speed
and detail, reacting faster than other animals,
because they see the world as a movie in
slow motion, thanks to a brain trained to
rapidly assimilate data