4 ms·
Brain size to body size matters a lot too. Sperm whales have about 6x the brain we do, but far more than 6x the body to control.
by village-idiot 8y ago
Brain size to body size matters a lot too. Sperm whales have about 6x the brain we do, but far more than 6x the body to control.
- strainer 8y agoJust looking now.. Mice have similar brain/body-mass ratio as humans. There is no strong (or visible) distinction in brain size between carnivores and herbivores in these comparisons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-to-body_mass_ratio#Comparisons_between_groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-to-body_mass_ratio#Compa...
- gus_massa 8y agoYou don't have to compare brain-mass/body-mass. You have to compare brain-mass/body-mass^(2/3). > This phenomenon can be described by an equation of the form E = CS^r, where E and S are brain and body weights, r a constant that depends on animal family (but close to 2/3 in many vertebrates
- im3w1l 8y agoI know this is the conventional wisdom but it doesn't really make sense. Controlling a sperm whale's body doesn't seem like a hard computational problem.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- friedman23 8y agoI assume you mean relative to controlling a human body?
- im3w1l 8y agoRelative to anything smaller really.
- mateo1 8y agoEcholocation in a "true" 3d environment is a very hard computational problem, which is why many aqueous mammals developed larger brains.