The elephant’s brain is the largest brain among all the 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 characteristics of the brain of these animals, as well as compare it with the human brain.
Types of Elephants
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. Tusks in this species of elephants grow all their lives, both in males and in females. The African elephant has large ears to give off more heat to the atmosphere. This species is endangered due to poaching.
- Indian elephants. This species of elephants 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 gray color. It occupies an important place in the culture of India.
- Asian elephants. These elephants are the largest animals of Asia. They reach a length of 6.4 m and a height of 3 m. The weight of an adult is within 5 tons. Unlike the African elephant, they have small ears that constantly move, cooling the head of the animal. Most males do not have tusks.
Some facts about the brain of elephants
Here are some important facts that characterize the brain of the largest land animals on the planet:
- the brain of newly born elephant cubs is 35% by weight of the brain mass of an adult animal;
- elephants are one of the most intelligent animals on Earth;
- the brain of an African male has a mass of 4.2 to 5.4 kilograms, the brain mass of an African female is 3.6-4.3 kilograms;
- the process of brain development in elephants is similar to that in humans.
Importance of brain size
Despite the fact that the elephant’s brain is the largest among mammals on Earth, it occupies only a small area in 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, which has a fairly high ratio of brain size to body size.
The size of the brain is important because it correlates with the flexibility of thinking of the animal 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 brain weight of males of the African elephant is 0.6-1.1 kg more than the weight of females of this species, and is 4.2-5.4 kg. It is important to note that this difference in the weight of the brain of animals does not affect their mental abilities.
Many studies on the behavior of elephants have shown reasonably reasonable behavior for females that are in no way inferior to male elephants. This is explained by the fact that not the weight of the brain itself is important for rational 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 in males, since they are attached to their mothers and, starting from early childhood, form stable ties with other females of their herd, which they maintain throughout life. Males are more single nomads.
Brain development
It is interesting to note that the brain of elephants develops like the brain of primates, including humans. An elephant and a man are born with a small brain mass: in an elephant, it makes up 35% of the adult brain mass, and in humans - 26%.
These figures indicate that there is an opportunity for significant development of the brain in animals during their growth. As the brain mass increases, various abilities, including mental ones, are actively developing in young elephants. 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 the developed brain, elephants remember the location of oases with water during the drought period, they can recognize the bones of their deceased relatives. They can even love. Elephants are able to identify whether a given person is dangerous to them or not, because animals distinguish people of different ethnic groups, distinguish human languages, age and gender. Dolphins and whales have similar abilities. It has been observed that young elephants learn from their older relatives throughout life.
For example, one of the populations of African elephants lives near the territory where the Masai tribes live. Elephants are afraid of the people of this tribe, because conflicts between animals and Masai often flare up due to lack of vital resources, which is a common problem in Africa. Animals learned to recognize the smell and red color of the clothes of 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 on the first line among animals that can understand a person in sign language. Thanks to this ability of animals, they managed 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 abilities 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 dumber than an elephant, since the animal’s brain weighs 3-3.5 times more.
It is also impossible to identify mental capabilities with the ratio of the masses of the brain and body. For example, for humans, 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 this indicator significantly exceeds the brain of any animal, including an elephant, which has less 3 times 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 in 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 the cortex of its brain differs from that for primates. In particular, its composition includes a larger number of cell types, which, according to scientists, plays an important role in the manifestation of the mental abilities of these animals.