How much does a blue whale's brain weigh? Whose brain weighs more? How much does the brain weigh in males and females?
Scientists have long noticed that advanced intelligence and evolutionarily developed brains 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 human brains have shrunk in size over the past 20,000 years due to the domestication of humans, evolution must have rapidly increased the size of hominid brains in a relatively short period of time so that humans could unite into large tribes.
In social communication, it is very important to recognize the so-called “third-party knowledge”, that is, to understand the hierarchy, social relationships and relationships such as “she knows that he knows” and the like. For example, the alpha male of a chimpanzee chooses any females for himself, but at the same time tolerates attempts to mate with them by those who helped him reign on the throne. Without a sufficiently advanced brain, such subtleties of social hierarchy cannot be grasped.
Now a group of scientists from the US and UK has published a new scientific work, “The Social and Cultural Roots of the Brain of Whales and Dolphins,” which confirms the social brain hypothesis.
Representatives of the cetacean order (dolphins and whales) have the most advanced nervous system among all taxonomic groups, and they rank highly on any dimension of neuroanatomical complexity. At the same time, many cetaceans are also organized into hierarchical social structures and exhibit an astonishing breadth of cultural and social behavior, the features of which - rare for animals - are very similar to the social behavior of humans and primates. But until now, little evidence has been collected for correlations between large brains, social structures, and cultural behavior in cetaceans.
A huge number of signs of complex social behavior have been found in whales and dolphins, including:
- relationships in complex alliances;
- social transmission 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 according to the above criteria - and calculated the correlation between these indicators. The first diagram below shows family ties between species and brain size (red corresponds to larger size, green - smaller). The second diagram shows indicators for 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 the size of the group. Moreover, the relationship with group size is quadratic, that is, the most developed brain and advanced social behavior are demonstrated by medium-sized groups, rather than small or large groups.
Authors scientific work point to clear parallels between marine mammals and primates/humans. Dolphins and whales also exhibit a combination of 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 dolphins and humans developed intellectual abilities during the course of evolution as a kind of evolutionary reaction to the need to live in a society of their own kind.
The human brain weighs from 1100 to 2000 grams, which is about 2% of the total body weight. At the same time, the mass of the female and male brain is different - in the stronger half, the brain is “heavier” by about 100 - 150 grams. According to scientific research, brain weight also depends on a person’s age. For example, a newborn baby has a brain mass of 455 grams. So how much does a human brain weigh? Let's try to understand this interesting question.
How much does an adult human brain weigh?
The brain is made up of many nerve cells and is one of the most important organs in the body. There is an opinion that the level of a person’s intelligence depends on the mass of his brain. However, this is nothing more than a myth - the brain of a genius may well turn out to be smaller than the brain of a person of low mental abilities. It is enough to trace the “dimensions” of the brain of many great minds of mankind. So, let's turn to statistics and compare the brain mass of such outstanding personalities as:
- Walt Whitman – 1256 g
- Lenin – 1340 g
- Stanislavsky – 1505
- Trotsky - 1568
- Mendeleev - 1571 g
- Pavlov – 1653
- Beethoven – 1750
- Yesenin - 1920
- Turgenev - 2012
- Byron – 2238 g
As you can see, the presence of talent or personal gifts does not depend on weight human brain. It has been proven that the level of intelligence is influenced by certain areas of the brain - the “gray matter”. And here, in turn, the density of neurons and the number of connections between them play a decisive role.
Many diseases may well provoke an enlargement of the cerebral cortex, which will affect its mass. Science has recorded the largest brain - weighing 2850 grams! True, the owner of such a “unique” was a weak-minded person.
Interesting fact: representatives of different races and nationalities have different brain masses. For example, in Belarusians the brain weight is on average 1429 grams, in Russians it is 1399 grams. If we compare the brain mass of a black American (1223 grams) and the “average” German (1425 grams), the difference between the figures will be 202 grams.
The human brain weighs from 1100 to 2000 grams.
Australians have the lightest brain – 1185 grams! The brains of Asians – Koreans and Japanese – are slightly “heavier” (1376 grams and 1313 grams, respectively).
It should be noted that the weight of the brain is not a static quantity. From birth to 27 years of age, the brain “grows” in weight, and then its mass gradually but steadily decreases. For every 10 subsequent years, a person “loses” 30 grams of brain!
How much does an elephant's brain weigh?
The average weight of an elephant's brain is from 4000 to 5000 grams. If compared with the weight of the human brain, then the representative of the most large mammals brains are more than twice as heavy. As has been scientifically proven, the level of intelligence does not depend on the size of the brain - otherwise, the “crown of creation” on the planet would not be humans, but elephants and whales.
The weight of an elephant's brain is from 4000 to 5000 grams.
What criterion influences the potential level of intelligence? This is the ratio of brain mass to total body weight. Observation of different types animals showed that animals with a higher score are able to better control their behavior. In humans, the ratio of brain weight to body weight is 1:40, but elephants cannot “boast” of such successes - in these huge mammals this figure is 1:560.
How much does a whale's brain weigh?
The weight of a whale's brain reaches 9000 grams.
The blue whale is the largest mammal that has ever existed on Earth. Indeed, the body length of a whale often exceeds 30 meters, and its weight is more than 150 tons.
The brain mass of this aquatic “record holder” reaches 9000 grams, and the ratio of this indicator to total weight body is 1:40,000.
How much do the brain and heart of a blue whale weigh?
An interesting fact is that the heart of a whale weighs between 600 and 700 kg, while the brain weighs on average 6.8 kg. As you can see, the whale brain is about 100 times lighter than the heart. Why does a whale have such a “big” heart? The fact is that a small heart could hardly cope with transporting blood through the vessels of such a huge multi-ton body.
The northern beluga dolphin also has a large brain weighing 2350 grams. But his “brother”, the bottlenose dolphin, has a brain mass of only 1735 grams.
The human brain is a unique creation of nature. Indeed, in the total body mass, the brain’s share is only 2%, and to remain even in a state of “rest,” the organ requires at least 9% of the energy entering the body. What can we say about the activity of thought processes! As soon as a person begins to think “intensely,” the level of energy consumption immediately increases to 25%. In addition, increased brain activity needs additional oxygen supply. So at the time of decision logical problems or writing essays, our brain “takes” up to a third of all incoming oxygen from the body.
We now know how much the human brain weighs on its own, and also in relation to the brains of some mammals.
The elephant brain is the largest brain of 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. Let's consider the main characteristics and features of the brain of these animals, and also compare it with the human brain.
Types of elephants
Currently, three species of these animals live on our planet:
- African elephants. They live throughout most of Africa and are the most... great view earthly 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 elephant grow throughout their lives, in both males and females. The African elephant has large ears to release more heat into the atmosphere. This species is endangered due to poaching.
- Indian elephants. This species 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 has a dark grey colour. He takes important place in Indian culture.
- Asian elephants. These elephants are the largest. They reach a length of 6.4 m and a height of 3 m. The weight of an adult individual is within 5 tons. Unlike the African elephant, they have small ears that constantly move to cool the animal's head. Most males do not have tusks.
Some facts about the elephant brain
Let's give important facts characterizing the brains of the largest land animals on the planet:
- the brain of newly born elephant calves is 35% of the mass of the brain of an adult animal;
- elephants are among the most intelligent animals on Earth;
- the brain of an African male has a mass of 4.2 to 5.4 kilograms, while the brain of an African female weighs 3.6-4.3 kilograms;
- The process of brain development in elephants is similar to that of humans.
The Importance of Brain Size
Although the elephant's brain is the largest of any mammal on Earth, it occupies only 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 is important because it correlates with an animal's mental flexibility, or intelligence, as it is commonly called, and also determines the complex social structures and relationships within a population of these animals.
How much does the brain weigh in males and females?
In both the African and Indian elephants, brain size depends on whether the individual is male or female. The weight of the brain of male African elephants is 0.6-1.1 kg greater than the weight of females of this species, and amounts to 4.2-5.4 kg. It is important to note that this difference in brain weight of animals does not in any way affect their mental abilities.
Many studies of elephant behavior have demonstrated quite intelligent behavior of female elephants, which are 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 intelligent behavior, but the ratio of its mass to body weight. Since female elephants are, as a rule, smaller in size 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. Elephants and humans are born with a small brain mass: in an elephant it is 35% of the adult brain mass, and in humans it is 26%.
These numbers suggest that there is potential for significant brain development in animals as they grow. As brain mass increases, various abilities, including mental ones, are actively developed in young elephants. Studies conducted on the behavior of elephants, as well as the anatomy of their brain, indicate that elephants are very smart animals.
Elephants are smart animals
Thanks to developed brain elephants remember the location of oases with water during periods of drought and are able to recognize the bones of their dead relatives. They can even love. Elephants are able to identify, dangerous this person for them or not, since animals distinguish 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 relatives throughout their lives.
For example, one population of African elephants lives near the territory where the Maasai tribes live. Elephants are afraid of the people of this tribe, since conflicts often break out between animals and the Maasai due to the lack of vital resources, which is a common problem in Africa. The animals learned to recognize the smell and red color of the clothes of the tribe's people.
Scottish scientists from the University of St. Andrews have found that the developed brain of elephants allows them to understand many human gestures without prior training. This fantastic discovery puts elephants in first place among animals capable of understanding human sign language. Thanks to this ability of animals, they were domesticated and a strong friendly bond was established between the elephant and its owner, despite the danger of the elephant and its large size.
Comparison of elephant and human brains
If mental capabilities depended only on the mass of the brain, then knowing how much a person’s brain weighs (approximately 1.4 kg), one could say that he is much stupider than an elephant, since the animal’s brain weighs 3-3.5 times more.
Also, mental capabilities cannot be equated with the ratio of brain and body masses. For example, for a human this figure is 1/40, and for an elephant - 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 a person’s mental abilities are associated with the complex structure of his cerebral cortex, which includes 16 billion neurons, and in this indicator significantly exceeds the brain of any animal, including the elephant, which has less in the cortex. 3 times more neurons than humans. Each human neuron is capable of forming tens of thousands of connections with others. In addition, all neurons of the brain are packed into several layers, which leads to an increase in their density compared to the elephant brain.
As for the elephant, it should be noted that the structure of its cerebral cortex is different from that of primates. In particular, it includes larger number types of cells, which scientists believe plays a role important role in the manifestation of the mental abilities of these animals.
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10th place - New convolutions
There is a myth that when learning something new, a person develops new convolutions. In fact, a person is not born with convolutions; at the beginning of development, the fetus has a smooth small brain. As neurons grow, they also grow and migrate to different areas of the brain, creating grooves and ridges. By 40 weeks, the brain is almost as convoluted as an adult's. That is, as we learn, new reliefs do not appear; we are simply born with them.
However, as learning progresses, the brain actually changes - brain plasticity is responsible for this, but still no new convolutions appear.
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9th place - The human brain is the largest
In proportion to the entire 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 reaches 15 cm in length. The largest brain belongs to the sperm whale; it weighs more than 8 kg. Another animal with a large brain is the elephant, whose brain weighs about 5 kg.
Many people will ask, what about the brain-to-body ratio? However, people are inferior in this too. 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, brain size does not affect the level of intelligence. For example, the brain of I.S. Turgenev weighed 2012 g, and Anatole France's brain weighed 1017 g. The heaviest brain - 2850 g - was found in an individual who suffered from epilepsy and idiocy. His brain was functionally defective. So, there is a direct relationship between brain mass and mental abilities there is no separate individual.
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7th place - The older a person is, the weaker his memory
In fact, in most cases we observe exactly this picture - in older people, the thinking process slows down, memory deteriorates, in some cases accompanied by senile insanity.
However, it is not age that is to blame, but the lifestyle that each individual person led and leads. Some people retained their thinking clearly into old age. Of course, for this, desire alone is not enough - it is necessary to observe a certain regime of work, rest and nutrition. It is advisable to eat healthy foods, including fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Mental exercises also keep your 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 work and how the brain works, we see that the differences between them are fundamental. In a computer, a program stored in memory is executed by the processor, thus keeping memory and computation separate. In the brain, this division is absent; in fact, memory and calculation are combined with each other due to the fact that memory is stored in the structure of connections between nerve cells, which perform calculations.
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5th place - Alcohol kills brain cells
Alcoholism, of course, can lead to serious health problems, but experts do not believe that alcohol causes the death of neurons. In fact, studies have shown that even chronic drinking does not kill neurons.
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4th place - Brain damage turns a person into a vegetable
It is not always so. Eat different types brain damage, and their 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 experience mild brain injury do not become disabled for life.
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3rd place - Brain hemispheres
The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for rationality, and the right hemisphere for creativity. This is only partly true. Study of gifted schoolchildren, winners of mathematics Olympiads high level, showed that among them there were distinct right-handers, 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 not subject to any doubt. However, only the cells of the dead brain that have left the host’s body are gray. The natural color of a living brain is red. By the way, brain tissue resembles the structure of ordinary soft jelly.
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1st place - The myth about the 10% of the brain that is used
It is a myth that most people use no more than 10% of their brain. Neuroscientist Barry Gordon characterizes the myth as "ridiculously wrong," adding: "We use virtually every part of the brain, and it's active almost all the time."
Research shows that each part of the human brain has its own specific set of functions. If the 10% myth was true, then the chance of brain damage would be much less - we would only have to worry about keeping the little 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 also showed 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 are no serious differences between individual races. In any case, it is not the Europeans who occupy the leading position. The average brain weight of African blacks is 1316, Europeans - 1361, including Germans - 1291, Swiss - 1327, Russians - 1377 grams. The brain weight of the Japanese is 1374, and that of the Buryats is even 1508 grams.
How can we 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. Most major representative modern great apes the volume of the braincase is small - 440 - 510 cubic centimeters. When moving from great ape To to primitive man there was a significant increase in the brain. 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 African Neanderthal skull reached 1325, and the European one - 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 ancient Egyptian pyramids provide an opportunity to compare the size of the skulls of pharaohs over several millennia. For some 2 - 3 thousand years from the reign of the first dynasty of pharaohs to the 18th dynasty, the capacity of the skull fell from 1414 to 1379 cubic centimeters, approximately by a cubic centimeter every 200 years. And Europeans’ brains have “shrinked” significantly over the past 10 - 20 thousand years. Its volume for a modern European is on average 1446 cubic centimeters.
Maybe the ancients were smarter than us? It’s unlikely, although they should have been outstanding thinkers: after all, they had to figure everything out with their own minds. I would like to hope that the decrease in brain size is caused by improvements in its design and is not accompanied by a decrease in intelligence.
Among animals, whales have the largest brains. U blue whale it weighs 6800 grams, about five times that of a human. The brain weight 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. In our country, 1 gram of brain commands 50 grams of body, and in an ordinary whale it commands five kilograms, almost 100 times more. If we take giant whales weighing 100 - 150 tons, which are occasionally found in the ocean, then for 1 gram of brain they will have over 20 kilograms of body - a huge load for nerve cells.
