The elephant's brain is the largest brain among all land mammals that live on our planet. It is located at the back of the head and occupies a small part of the volume of the skull. Consider the main characteristics and features of the brain of these animals, and also compare it with the human brain.
Elephant species
Currently, three species of these animals live on our planet:
- African elephants. They live in most of Africa and are the largest species of terrestrial animals. Large specimens of these animals reach 7.5 meters in length, 3.3 meters in height and weigh up to 6 tons. The tusks of this species of elephants grow throughout their lives, both in males and females. African elephant has big ears to release more heat into the atmosphere. This species is endangered due to poaching.
- Indian elephants. This type of elephant lives mainly in India. Its specimens grow up to 6.4 m in length and up to 2-3.5 m in height. The elephant is dark grey. It occupies an important place in Indian culture.
- Asian elephants. These elephants are the largest. They reach 6.4 m in length and 3 m in height. The weight of an adult individual is within 5 tons. Unlike the African elephant, they have small ears that are constantly moving to cool the animal's head. Most males do not have tusks.
Some facts about the brain of elephants
Let's bring important facts characterizing the brain of the largest land animals on the planet:
- the brain of newly born elephant cubs is 35% by mass of the mass of the brain of an adult animal;
- elephants are among the smartest animals on earth;
- the brain of an African male has a mass of 4.2 to 5.4 kilograms, while the mass of the brain of an African female is 3.6-4.3 kilograms;
- Elephant brain development is similar to that of humans.
The Importance of Brain Size
Although the elephant's brain is the largest mammal on Earth, it only occupies a small area at the back of the animal's head. If we take the ratio of brain weight to body weight, it turns out that this figure for elephants will be less than for humans. Be that as it may, the elephant is the only animal, along with primates and sperm whales, that has a fairly high ratio of brain size to body size.
Brain size has importance, since it correlates with the flexibility of the animal's thinking or, as they say, with its mind, and also determines the complex social structures and relationships in the population of these animals.
How much does the brain weigh in males and females?
In both African and Indian elephants, the size of the brain depends on whether the individual is male or female. The weight of the brain of the males of the African elephant is more than the weight of the females of this species, by 0.6-1.1 kg, and is 4.2-5.4 kg. It is important to note that this difference in the brain weight of the animals does not affect their mental abilities.
Many studies of the behavior of elephants have demonstrated quite reasonable behavior of females, which were in no way inferior to male elephants. This is explained by the fact that it is not the weight of the brain itself that is important for reasonable behavior, but the ratio of its mass to body weight. Since female elephants are usually smaller than males, the difference in this ratio is practically zero. In addition, the consciousness itself in females is very different from that of males, since they are attached to their mothers and, starting from early childhood, form stable bonds with other females of their herd, which they maintain throughout their lives. Males are more solitary nomads.
brain development
It is interesting to note that the brain of elephants develops similarly to the brain of primates, including humans. Elephant and man are born with a small brain mass: in an elephant it is 35% of the brain mass of an adult, and in humans - 26%.
These numbers suggest that there is room for significant brain development in animals as they grow. As the mass of the brain increases, various abilities, including mental ones, actively develop in young elephants. Conducted studies on the behavior of elephants, as well as the anatomy of their brain, suggest that elephants are very intelligent animals.
Elephants are smart animals
Thanks to a developed brain, elephants remember the location of oases with water during a drought period, and are able to recognize the bones of their dead relatives. They may even love. Elephants are able to identify, dangerous this person for them or not, because animals distinguish between people of different ethnic groups, distinguish between human languages, age and gender. Dolphins and whales have similar abilities. It has been observed that young elephants learn from their older counterparts throughout their lives.
For example, one of the populations of African elephants lives near the territory where the Maasai tribes live. Elephants are afraid of the people of this tribe, because conflicts often break out between animals and the Maasai due to a lack of vital resources, which is common problem in Africa. Animals have learned to recognize the smell and red color of the clothes of the people of the tribe.
Scottish scientists from the University of St. Andrews found that the developed brain of elephants allows them to understand many human gestures without prior training. This fantastic discovery puts elephants at the top of the list of animals that can understand humans in sign language. Thanks to this ability of animals, they were able to domesticate and establish a strong friendly relationship between the elephant and its owner, despite the danger of the elephant and its large size.
Comparison of the brain of an elephant and a human
If mental capabilities depended only on the mass of the brain, then knowing how much a human brain weighs (approximately 1.4 kg), one could say that it is much more stupid than an elephant, since the brain of an animal weighs 3-3.5 times more.
It is also impossible to identify mental capabilities with the ratio of brain and body masses. For example, for a human this figure is 1/40, and for an elephant it is 1/560, but for small birds the ratio is 1/12.
The difference in mental capabilities is not associated with the mass or volume of the brain of an elephant and a person, but with structural features. Most scientists are inclined to believe that the mental abilities of a person are associated with complex structure its bark hemispheres of the brain, which includes 16 billion neurons, and in this indicator significantly exceeds the brain of any animal, including an elephant, which has 3 times fewer neurons in the cortex than a person. Each human neuron is capable of forming tens of thousands of connections with others. In addition, all brain neurons are packed into several layers, which leads to an increase in their density, in comparison with the brain of an elephant.
As for the elephant, it should be noted that the structure of its cerebral cortex is different from that of primates. In particular, it contains a greater number of cell types, which, according to scientists, plays an important role in the manifestation of the mental abilities of these animals.
The brain of any living being- perhaps the most mysterious and little-studied organ. Functioning certain types cells and parts of the brain have been clearly elucidated and described, but science has not yet been able to explain how the brain functions as a whole. Although, for the sake of reliability, it must be said that in last years progress in such studies is still observed.
- ablation method - is to remove one of the parts of the brain and then observe the behavior of the body;
- transcranial magnetic stimulation - assessment of the excitability of the brain using magnetic impulses.
- electrophysiology - registration electrical impulses brain activity;
- electrical stimulation - stimulation of certain areas of the brain using electrical impulses.
NauchFilm. Brain
Brain size of 20 different living beings, encephalization index
Through research, scientists have found that the size of the brain is differentiated in different animals, and there is a different ratio of the size of the brain and body weight of a living being. The greater the mass of the brain relative to body weight, the more brain tissue is used to solve cognitive problems. Therefore, such a concept as the coefficient of encephalization was introduced - the relative ratio of body weight and the size of the brain of a mammal. It is calculated by the formula:
where m– brain mass, g; M- body weight, g.
The encephalization index makes it possible to explore the potentialities of different species.
Brain size does not affect intelligence
This axiom should be considered in more detail using examples of animals of different classes and species.
The classification starts with the largest number (the smartest of the animals) and continues in descending order.
- bottlenose dolphin. The brain weighs 1550 g, the encephalization coefficient is 4.14
- Fox - 53g, coefficient = 1.6
- Elephant - 7843 g, coefficient = 1.3
- Dog - 64 g, coefficient = 1.2
- Macaque - 62g, coefficient = 1.19
- Donkey - 370g, coefficient = 1.09
- Cat - 35 g, coefficient = 1.0
- Sparrow - 1.0g, coefficient = 0.86
- Giraffe - 680g, coefficient = 0.66
- Horse - 510g, coefficient = 0.9
- Sheep - 140g, coefficient = 0.8
- Sperm whale - 7800 g, coefficient = 0.58
- Rabbit - 12g, coefficient = 0.4
- Rat - 2g, coefficient = 0.4
- Rhino - 500g, coefficient = 0.37
- Hedgehog - 3.3g, coefficient = 0.3
- Field mouse - 0.2g, coefficient = 0.22
- Green lizard 0.1g, coefficient = 0.04
- Housefly - 0.0002g, coefficient = 0.02
- Viper - 0.1g, coefficient = 0.005
So, the dolphin is the most human-like in terms of encephalization coefficient.
As you can see, the stereotype about low mental abilities, for example, a donkey, a giraffe and a sheep, has no basis.
An interesting fact: insects do not have a brain, they perform the role of the central nervous system ganglions- ganglia. Theoretically, if a cockroach is left without a head, it will die from not being able to eat.
It has also been shown that the mental abilities of an organism depend not only on the size of the brain, but to a large extent on the number of connections between neurons.
Prevention of brain shrinkage in humans
It is necessary to consider the human brain in more detail, since it is this organ that, with a more detailed study, can provide answers to eternal questions relating to our development and life.
The brain of a newborn weighs 365 d, child 2 years old - 930 d, 6 years old - 1211 g, an adult 1400 d. The coefficient of encephalization of the human brain over the age of 18 is 6.74.
Interestingly, there is a difference between the brain of a man and a woman. The first recorded study of brain sex differences was conducted by Francis Gutton as early as 1882. Later, scientists from reputable, world-renowned research institutes proved that the brain of a man, on average, is 125 grams. more than a woman's brain. In addition, there are also racial and national differences. For example, the owners of the lightest brain are the Australians - 1185 g, the heaviest - the Europeans - 1375. Moreover, the British brain weighs an average of 1346 g, the French - 1280 g, the Koreans - 1376 g, the Japanese - 1313 The leaders are the Germans, their brain weighs 1425 g. The brain of the Russians is 26 grams smaller than the German one. African Americans have an average brain weight of 1223 grams, which is 100 grams less than that of whites in the United States.
During life, the brain can change its weight in the direction of shrinkage. Basically, the hippocampus is reduced in people suffering from depression and schizophrenics. Scientists now know that some parts of the brain age faster than others. Due to age-related changes, the loss in volume can reach up to 10%. As scientists have found medical center University of Rush, a deficiency of vitamin B 12, as well as a disease such as diabetes mellitus, leads to brain shrinkage in senior years.
How to avoid this and prevent the gray matter from drying out?
The answer is simple: you need to eat foods containing this very vitamin B 12 more often. In the most large quantities it is found in milk, eggs, meat, poultry, fish.
Beans, beans, bananas, grain bread are very useful in this regard - these products contain glucides (slow carbons), which slow down the aging process of the brain. You should go in for sports: even minor loads stimulate blood oxygen saturation, respectively, much more nutrients enter the brain. It is very important to establish for yourself proper nutrition, the main rules of which are a limited amount of sweets, as well as a variety in food: the brain does not like diets where you need to eat monotonously for several weeks.
Only the right approach to your own lifestyle will keep your brain young and increase your IQ.
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10th place - New convolutions
There is a myth that, learning something new, a person has new convolutions. In fact, a person is not born with convolutions; at the beginning of development, the fetus has a smooth little brain. As they grow, neurons grow too and migrate to different areas of the brain, creating furrows and ridges. By the age of 40 weeks, the brain is almost as tortuous as that of an adult. That is, as we learn, new reliefs do not appear, we are simply born with them.
However, as you learn, the brain does change - the plasticity of the brain is responsible for this, but still, new convolutions do not appear.
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9th place - The human brain is the largest
In proportion to the whole body, the human brain is indeed quite large, but a common misconception is that the human brain is larger than that of any other creature.
The adult human brain weighs approximately 1.3 kg and is 15 cm long. The largest brain belongs to the sperm whale, it weighs more than 8 kg. Another animal with a large brain is an elephant, whose brain weight is about 5 kg.
Many will ask, what about the ratio of brain to body? However, this is where people fall short. In a shrew, the weight of its brain is 10% of the total mass.
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8th place - The level of intelligence depends on the size of the brain
As practice has shown, the size of the brain does not affect the level of intelligence in any way. For example, the brain of I.S. Turgenev weighed 2012, and the brain of Anatole France - 1017. The heaviest brain - 2850 g - was found in an individual who suffered from epilepsy and idiocy. His brain was functionally defective. So, there is no direct relationship between the mass of the brain and the mental abilities of an individual.
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7th place - The older the person, the weaker his memory
In fact, in most cases we observe just such a picture - in people of advanced age, the process of thinking slows down, memory deteriorates, in some cases accompanied by senile insanity.
However, it is not age that is to blame, but the way of life that each individual person has led and is leading. Some people kept their thinking clear until old age. Of course, for this, one desire is not enough - it is necessary to observe a certain mode of work, rest and nutrition. It is advisable to eat healthy foods, among which it is worth noting fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Intellectual exercises also keep thinking clear.
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6th place - The brain works like a computer
It is a myth. In fact, if we look at how modern computers are structured and how the brain is structured, we will see that the differences between them are fundamental. In a computer, a program stored in memory is executed by a processor, so memory and computation are separated. In the brain, however, this separation is absent; in fact, memory and computation are combined with each other due to the fact that memory is stored in the structure of connections between nerve cells, which do the calculations.
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5th place - Alcohol kills brain cells
Alcoholism, of course, can lead to serious problems with health, but experts do not believe that alcohol is the cause of neuronal death. In fact, studies have shown that even constant drinking does not kill neurons.
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4th place - Brain damage makes a person a vegetable
It is not always so. There is different types Brain damage and its impact on a person depends largely on where they are located and how severe they are. Mild brain injuries such as concussions are caused by the brain moving inside the skull, causing bleeding and rupture. The brain recovers surprisingly well from minor injuries, and the vast majority of people who have experienced minor injury brain, do not become disabled for life.
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3rd place - Hemispheres of the brain
The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for rationality, while the right hemisphere is responsible for creativity. This is only partly true. Study of gifted schoolchildren, winners of mathematical Olympiads high level, showed that among them there were distinct right-handers, and left-handers, and ambidexters (people with the same manual dexterity), that is, these schoolchildren had a slightly different distribution of functions across the hemispheres.
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2nd place - The brain is gray matter
Many of us have heard that the cells of the cerebral cortex are gray, and this statement is beyond doubt. However, only the cells of the dead brain that have left the host's body have a gray color. The natural color of a living brain is red. By the way, brain tissue resembles ordinary soft jelly in structure.
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1st place - The myth of 10% of the used part of the brain
The myth that most people use less than 10% of their brains. Neuroscientist Barry Gordon characterizes the myth as "ridiculously misguided," adding, "We use virtually every part of the brain, and they're active nearly all the time."
Research shows that each part of the human brain has its own specific set of functions. If the 10% myth is true, then the chance of brain damage would be far less – we should only be concerned about keeping the small 10% of our brain safe. But in reality, even damage to a very small area of the brain can lead to serious consequences for our functioning. Brain scans have also shown that there is a certain level of activity throughout the brain, even during sleep.
brain weight normal people ranges from 1020 to 1970 grams. The brain of men weighs 100 - 150 grams more than the brain of women. There is no significant difference between the individual races. In any case, non-Europeans are in the lead. Average weight brain African blacks 1316, Europeans - 1361, including Germans - 1291, Swiss - 1327, Russians -1377 grams. The brain weight of the Japanese is 1374, and the Buryats are even 1508 grams.
But how to find out how much the brain of our distant ancestors weighed? The size of the brain can be determined by the size of the skull. In the largest representative of modern great apes, the volume of the brain box is small - 440 - 510 cubic centimeters. During the transition from the higher ape to primitive man, a significant increase in the brain occurred. In Pithecanthropus, it ranged from 750 to 900, in Sinanthropus it increased to 915 - 1225 cubic centimeters, that is, it caught up with the brain modern woman. The volume of the skull of the African Neanderthal reached 1325, and the European - 1610 cubic centimeters. Finally, the Cro-Magnons were truly brainy guys with a brain volume of up to 1880 cubic centimeters.
Then the size of the brain began to decline. Excavations in the ancient Egyptian pyramids make it possible to compare the size of the skull of the pharaohs over several millennia. For some 2 - 3 thousand years from the reign of the first dynasty of the pharaohs to the 18th dynasty, the capacity of the skull fell from 1414 to 1379 cubic centimeters, about a cubic centimeter every 200 years. And the brains of Europeans have significantly "shrunken" over the past 10 - 20 thousand years. Its volume in a modern European averages 1446 cubic centimeters.
Maybe the ancients were smarter than us? It is unlikely, although they should have been outstanding thinkers: after all, they had to reach everything with their own mind. I would like to hope that the decrease in the size of the brain is caused by an improvement in its design and is not accompanied by a drop in intelligence.
Whales have the largest brains among animals. In the blue whale, it weighs 6800 grams, about five times the size of a human. The weight of the brain of the Indian elephant is about 5000, the northern beluga dolphin - 2350, the bottlenose dolphin - 1735 grams. The comparison does not seem to be in favor of the person. But it is necessary to take into account not only the weight of the brain, but also the size of the economy subordinate to it. An ordinary whale is 30 tons of fat, bones and meat. An elephant weighs about 3 thousand, a beluga whale - 300, and a person - only some 75 kilograms. We have 1 gram of the brain in command of 50 grams of the body, and in an ordinary whale - five kilograms, almost 100 times the size of the economy. If we take giant whales weighing 100 - 150 tons, occasionally caught in the ocean, then they will have more than 20 kilograms of body per 1 gram of brain - a huge load for nerve cells.
Scientists have long noticed that advanced intelligence and an evolutionarily developed brain are present in humans and other animals, often demonstrating social behavior. This led anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar to propose the social brain hypothesis. According to the theory, man developed a large brain in order to be able to live large social groups. Although in the last 20,000 years, due to the “domestication” of man, his brain has decreased in size, but before that, evolution had to quickly increase the brain of hominids in a relatively short time so that people could unite in large tribes.
In social communication, it is very important to recognize the so-called "outside knowledge", that is, to understand the hierarchy, social relationships and relationships such as "she knows what he knows" and the like. For example, the alpha male in a chimpanzee chooses any females for himself, but at the same time he is tolerant of attempts to mate with them from those who helped him to reign on the throne. Without a sufficiently advanced brain, such intricacies of social hierarchy cannot be assimilated.
Now a group of scientists from the US and the UK has published a new scientific paper "The Social and Cultural Roots of the Whale and Dolphin Brain", which confirms the social brain hypothesis.
Representatives of the order of cetaceans (dolphins and whales) have the most advanced nervous system among all taxonomic groups, and they rank highly for any characteristic of neuroanatomical complexity. However, many cetaceans are also organized into hierarchical social structures and display a surprising breadth of cultural and social behavior, features that are - rare in animals - very similar to the social behavior of humans and primates. But so far, little evidence has been collected of correlations between large brains, social structures, and cultural behavior in cetaceans.
Whales and dolphins have a vast array of complex social behaviors, including:
- relationships in complex alliances;
- social transfer of hunting techniques (training);
- joint hunting;
- complex singing, including singing in regional group dialects;
- speech mimicry (imitation of other people's voices);
- the use of "voice signatures-identifiers" unique to a particular individual;
- interspecies cooperation with humans and other animals;
- alloparental care for someone else's cub (for example, by a female helper or "nanny");
- social games.
The researchers collected a large amount of data on each species of cetacean: body weight, brain size, degree of manifestation social communication on the above grounds - and calculated the correlation between these indicators. The first diagram below shows relationships between species and brain size (red corresponds to larger size, green - smaller). On the second diagram - indicators of social behavior (social repertoire). Finally, below is a graph of the relationship between these two parameters.
Scientists have found that evolutionary development brain is associated with the social structure of the species and with the size of the group. Moreover, the relationship with group size is quadratic, that is, the most developed brain and advanced social behavior are shown by medium-sized groups, and not small or large groups.
Authors scientific work point to clear parallels between marine mammals and primates/humans. Dolphins and whales also have a combination of both large brains, hypersocial behavior and a variety of behavioral patterns. It was these qualities that allowed man to multiply in incredible numbers and populate the entire Earth. Scientists believe that in dolphins and humans, intellectual abilities manifested themselves in the course of evolution as a kind of evolutionary reaction to the need to live in a society of their own kind.
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