An ant colony has memories that the ants themselves don't have.

Ecology

The brain is an amazing and perhaps the most mysterious organ, a small biological computer

, the center through which living beings receive commands for action.

The brain of animals varies greatly depending on the species and can be a small collection of nerve cells or a complex and amazing system of neurons

.

We invite you to find out the most interesting facts about the brain of animals and humans.

, which may surprise you a lot.

Spider brain

Spider brain

sometimes so large that
it displaces other organs
, which in some cases can move to the lower limbs.
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
made this discovery while studying the nervous system of the world's smallest spider.
His brain occupies 80 percent
of his body cavity.

The most unusual features of spiders

Scientists have found that the smaller the animals, the larger their brains

in proportion to the rest of the body.
For example, the human brain makes up only 2-3 percent
of the total body weight.
In some small ants, the brain takes up 15 percent
, and in tiny spiders it is even more.

Owners of the largest brains

Scientists took into account the ratio of brain mass to body mass of creatures to identify those with the largest brains. The record holder among vertebrates was a tiny hummingbird, as its ratio was 1/12. Invertebrate organisms showed different results, since they do not have a brain at all, but have a large number of nerve plexuses and endings. If we take into account the mass of nerve ganglia, the best result was that of the ant, its indicators were 1/4.

On a note! If we bring a person to this ratio, then his head would be simply huge, 8 times larger than at the moment, and its weight would be 20 kg.

Leech brain

Leeches

may seem to you unattractive and even disgusting living creatures that are capable of clinging to the skin of humans or animals and
sucking their blood
. This property of leeches is often used in alternative medicine, for example, it helps clean infected wounds.

The most unusual types of therapy

It cannot be denied that leeches are amazing creatures, because they have 5 pairs of eyes, 300 teeth and..32 brains

! However, technically they have one brain, which consists of 32 nerve ganglia, which are actually separate brains.

What kind of brain does an ant have?

“An ant is small in body, but big in mind,” says the old proverb. With your mind? But we all know very well that animals have no mind, only instincts! How then can an ant be smart? Today we will look at the mental abilities of our pets and see what they are capable of.

Ancient philosophers and thinkers have always been interested in ants. Many saw in them not only a standard of hard work, but also an example to follow: “Go to the ant, you sluggard, look at his actions, and be wise” (Proverbs of Solomon, Bible).

Ancient rulers and politicians sat for hours near anthills, trying to understand the model of an ideal society through observation of insects. Some of them liked to contemplate battles between anthills in order to borrow some military tricks to subdue their enemies. It is not known whether any useful knowledge was obtained at this time and whether it was useful to any of the ancients in the future, but one thing is clear: neither beetles, nor spiders, nor centipedes, but precisely ants attracted people.

If you look at some species of ants, you will notice the disproportionate development of the head in comparison with the rest of the body. This is where the ant’s huge brain , the development of which any sage would envy.

Now pay attention to your domestic reapers and try to answer the question: “How many times is their soldier smarter than a worker?” The answer lies on the surface: often soldiers are even more inhibited and slow to “think” than any small, nimble worker. But they have such a big head!

In order to understand the true purpose of this organ, let's turn to biology. The large head of soldier ants is primarily a receptacle for the muscles that control the mandibles. The more powerful the jaws, the larger the head. This is not surprising: Messor soldiers are needed to grind seeds, which is why the strength of their mandibles is so important. Other ants with enlarged heads are also used to crush grain or chew the chitinous shells of insects. An example of the latter is the “majors” Carebara diversa. They themselves are many times larger than the workers, and even more so in their proportions. But the intelligence is again at a low level: the soldier of the marauding ants is a mindless machine, which is controlled by workers outside the nest, tapping their antennae. If for some reason he suddenly loses his crew, he will rush to return home due to the impossibility of making independent decisions.

Despite this, ants can still be considered the smartest insects. They know how to quickly solve assigned problems independently and collectively, and find a way out of sudden difficult situations. It is even believed that an ant is capable of self-identification - when placed in front of a mirror, it understands that the reflection is not another individual, but itself! Only chimpanzees, dolphins, elephants and magpies are capable of this. The Belgian scientists who carried out the experiment suggest that this confirms the presence of the rudiments of intelligence and consciousness in ants.

The ant's brain , which does such interesting things, is a nerve ganglion - the suprapharyngeal ganglion. The greatest development was achieved by working individuals, who are faced with difficult tasks every day, and the least by males.

Its composition, in addition to the parts responsible for vision, smell and touch, includes the so-called “mushroom bodies”. Their size varies even among individuals of the same species. These are associative centers. Such areas of our brain are responsible for logic and inference. What about the ant one? Probably too! It is not without reason that to this day ants are the object of close attention of researchers.

Small giant squid brain

Giant squid

When feeding, they bite off relatively small pieces of food, since when swallowing, the food must pass through their
brain in the shape of a donut
, and only then enter the esophagus.
This gigantic creature has the largest eyes
of any creature on the planet, but its brain is surprisingly small.

Why do giant squids have such large eyes?

A male giant squid uses its 15-gram brain

to coordinate his 150-kilogram body. The length of this giant reaches 10 meters, and its genital organ reaches 1.5 meters in length.

A little bit of history

At different stages of human development, the size of his brain changed greatly. For example, in Pithecanthropus it weighed about 900 cm3, and as humans developed, the brain mass increased to 1225 cm3, today the same figure is typical for a woman. Cro-Magnons had the largest brain - 1880 cm3. Today, its maximum mass in humans is 1445 cm3.

This is interesting! It is believed that Turgenev had the largest brain among people.

Fungi are parasites that infect the brains of ants

Ant brain

may be affected by a special type of
parasitic fungus
called
Cordyceps unilateral
.
It infects ants, turning them into zombies
, manipulating their behavior, forcing them to leave the colony in order to spread and increase the number of their spores.

10 incredible facts about ants

Cordyceps

feeds on some non-vital organs of the ant,
entangling the brains of poor insects with its threads
, forcing the ants to climb to the tops of plants. After some time, the fungus kills the ant and grows as a mushroom from its head. Typical horror movie plot.

By the way, as studies of ancient fossils have shown, these fungi have parasitized ants since time immemorial: fossils dating back 48 million years

!

Smallest insect nervous system

Tiny wasp

The species
Megaphragma mymaripenne
is smaller in size than a single-celled
amoeba
, despite the fact that it has body parts such as
eyes, brain, wings, genitals and a digestive system.

Researchers have discovered that she has the tiniest nervous system ever

of all known insects.
A wasp's head contains a relatively small number of neurons when it is a larva, but later, when the wasp becomes an adult, the number of neurons is further reduced
as there is not enough room for them in its small head.
However, she doesn’t need a lot of brains: adult individuals live no more than 5 days
.

Digestive organs

The digestive organs of ants are divided into the preoral chamber and the digestive tract itself.
The preoral chamber is a spherical cavity located above the lower lip and below the pharynx. It serves as a receptacle for liquid and semi-liquid food, as well as for various residues after cleansing the body. In the preoral chamber, food is “sorted” - everything edible goes into the mouth, and inedible particles are released in the form of lumps shaped like a chamber.

The digestive tract consists of anterior, middle and posterior sections. The anterior section of adult ants consists of the esophagus, crop and provenriculus. The slightly swollen pharynx, located in the front of the head and opening into the mouth, is followed by a long esophagus that runs through the entire chest of the insect. The crop, the blind extension of the esophagus, can become very swollen in many ants. In a figurative expression, the crop is the “social stomach” of ants. The food stored in it is distributed among the entire population of the nest.

The structure of the proventriculus, or chewing stomach, is the last section of the foregut. As studies by Eisner and his co-authors have shown (Eisner 1957; Eisner, Brown, 1958; Eisner, Happ, 1958), the complex structure of this section is of great functional importance. In primitive ants (for example, ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae), the passage of food from the crop to the stomach is prevented only by the annular muscular sphincter, so the crop cannot fully function as a “social stomach.” Trophallaxis in these ants is poorly developed; they are also unable to store food in the crop for a long time. Formicinae and Dolichoderinae have special adaptations that allow them to hold food in the crop without muscular effort. The proventriculus of these ants is hard and sclerotized, and the cup-shaped and dome-shaped structures form valves that automatically prevent food from entering the stomach.

The swollen midgut, commonly called the stomach, is where most of the digestion of food occurs. According to Ayre (1963), in Camponotus herculeanus protease is secreted only here, and lipase is mainly secreted here. Of the enzymes that decompose carbohydrates, he found only a small amount of invertase. However, in Formica polyctena, maltose, sucrose and melitose are actively decomposed in this section, and melobiose, raffinose, trehalose and starch are more weakly decomposed (Graf, 1964).

Near the midgut of Serviformica, symbiocytes are located - highly modified cells containing symbiotic bacteria.

The hindgut is divided into three sections: the pylorus, the small intestine, and the rectum or rectum. The latter is strongly swollen, equipped with powerful muscles and opens into the anal tube.

Formica has the following paired glands that take part in the digestive process: maxillary (mandibular), salivary (labial) and pharyngeal. In F. polyctena, the excreta of these glands decompose the following carbohydrates: maltose, sucrose, melitose, melobiose, raffinose, trehalova and starch (Graf, 1964).

The maxillary glands open into the pharynx. In C. herculeanus they secrete mainly invertase and, to a lesser extent, amylase, i.e. enzymes that digest carbohydrates (Ayre, 1963).

The labial (salivary) glands are located in the chest and are homologous to the spinning glands of the larvae. There are two of them, but the ducts of these glands merge together and form one unpaired duct that opens in the lower lip. In F. rufa, on each of the paired ducts, before merging, there are blind processes that can swell and serve for storing excreta (Meinert, according to Wheeler, 1910). In C. herculeanus, the main enzyme secreted by this gland is amylase (Auge, 1963).

As shown by studies by Gosswald and Kloft (1957-1960) using radioactive phosphorus, the excretion of the labial glands serves to feed queens and larvae of sexual individuals. Labeled phosphorus from the stomach enters these glands after 24 hours, and then the excrement is distributed in the nest.

The pharyngeal (pharyngeal or, more correctly, postpharyngeal) glands of ants are not homologous to the pharyngeal glands of other Hymenoptera, for example, bees (Otto, 1958b). In C. herculeanus, the excretion of the pharyngeal glands contains a small amount of lipase and traces of amylase (Auge, 1963). Experiments with radioactive phosphorus showed that in Formica, this excretion from the gland enters the crop and is then distributed among all individuals in the nest (Naarman, 1963).

In addition to the listed glands, paired mandibular (jaw) glands, which open at the base of the mandibles, are associated with the oral apparatus of ants. These glands apparently have nothing to do with the digestion process. They are thought to secrete substances used to glue soil particles together for nest construction or for making cardboard (Donisthorpe, 1915). In a number of species from the subfamilies Myrmicinae and Dorylinae, these glands secrete odorous substances - toribons (Wilson, 1963b).

Excretory organs

M - Malpighian vessels

The excretory organs in ants are represented by the malygian vessels, which flow into the pyloric region of the hindgut. Their function is to remove metabolic end products from the body, mainly uric acid.

Musculature

The chitinous exoskeleton serves as a base to which striated skeletal muscles are attached. In workers, the structure of the muscular system is simpler, since they lack the flight muscles found in males and females. However, in the latter, after shedding their wings, it is resorbed and goes into the formation of excreta, which the larvae are fed with.

Respiratory system

The respiratory system of ants, like that of the vast majority of other insects, is tracheal. The tracheae open outward with spiracles, or stigmas. Spiracles are present between the mesothorax and epinotum (metathoracic), on the epinotum, on the stalk at the base of the scale, and on each of the abdominal segments.

Circulatory system

Hemolymph (“blood”) of ants is a colorless liquid. It circulates throughout the insect’s body thanks to the work of the dorsal vessel (“heart”) - a muscular tube running along the entire dorsal surface of the body.

central nervous system

1a - suprapharyngeal ganglion; 1b - subpharyngeal ganglion; 2 - thoracic nerve nodes; 3 - abdominal nerve cord.

The central nervous system of insects consists of a number of ganglia interconnected. Formica has the following ganglia: suprapharyngeal, subpharyngeal, three thoracic (corresponding to each segment of the chest) and several small abdominal ones.

Comparative size and shape of the supra-pharyngeal ganglion of worker(1), queen(2) and male(3) Serviformica fusca.

The most important part is the suprapharyngeal ganglion, or "brain" of the ants, in which temporary connections are formed. The volume of the “brain” is relatively largest in workers, smaller in females and smallest in males. According to Marshall (Marchal, after Chauvin, 1953), the brain volume of Formica is 1/280 of the body volume, in Dytiscus this ratio is 1/4200, in Ichneumon - 1/400 and in the honey bee - 1/174.

Temporary connections are formed in ants in mushroom bodies, which are an analogue of the vertebrate cerebral cortex. The size of the mushroom bodies of ants is associated with the ability of various species to form conditioned reflexes (Brun, 1959). In Formica workers (Marchal, after Chauvin, 1953), the mushroom bodies make up 1/2 of the brain volume; in females they are relatively smaller, and in males they are very small. For comparison, note that in the honey bee, despite having a relatively larger brain, the mushroom bodies are only 1/15 the size of the brain.

Sense organs

Vision

The organs of vision are represented by large compound eyes and three simple ocelli, found in all castes. The function of the ocelli is not yet very clear. There is evidence (Homann, 1924) that Formica with eyes covered with an opaque varnish behave like blind people. The compound eye consists of a large number of individual ommatidia. The viewing angle of individual ommatidia is of great importance for the resolving power of the eye. For example, for a bee this angle is about 1°, and for an earwig it is 8°, so that where the earwig sees only one point, the bee distinguishes 64 (Chauvin, 1953). In F. rufa, the visual angle of an individual worker ommatidium is 3.5, but the insect can distinguish a sphere at a solid angle of 2.5° (Homann, 1924). Even the old observations of Lebbock and Forel (Lebbock, 1898; Forel, 1886a) established that ants collect their larvae at the border of visible and infrared light (800 mmk), but avoid the dark zone of ultraviolet rays (380-330 mmk). They carry the larvae under a vessel with carbon disulfide, which absorbs ultraviolet rays, but is transparent to us, preferring it to a screen blackened with nickel oxide, which transmits ultraviolet rays but is opaque to visible ones. The zone from 600 to 575 mmk (yellow light) most actively stimulates the transfer of larvae in ants (Abbott, according to Chauvin, 1953). In recent years (Vowles, 1950) it has been proven that ants, like bees, are able to perceive the direction of oscillations of polarized light.

Smell

Ants perceive smell through their antennal flagellum. Ants are excellent at distinguishing the subtlest shades of smell, incomprehensible to us. However, the opinion of old authors (Lebbock, 1898; Forel, 1921, etc.) that ants are able to distinguish even the direction of a trail by smell was refuted by Chauvin’s experiments (Chauvin, 1960).

Taste

The taste organs of ants are located on the flagella of the antennae, on the lower lip and, apparently, on the maxillae. On the flagella of the antennae, perhaps, the taste organs are numerous plates, permeated with pores (Kunze, Minnich, after Chauvin, 1953). With the help of antennal organs, ants are able to distinguish pure water from sweetened water or sense the admixture of acid or quinine in it (A. Schmidt, 1938). The sensitivity threshold of ants to sucrose is higher than that of humans, and much higher than that of bees. Thus, according to Frisch (given before Chauvin, 1953), a person feels sucrose when a molar solution is diluted in water 1: 80, a bee - 1: 8 - 1: 16, Myrmica rubida I: 100, M. rubra - 1: 150, a Lasius niger - 1: 200.

Sound perception

Regarding the perception of sound by ants, Chauvin (1953) writes the following: “Ants react to sound only when they find themselves in the center of standing waves, and not at the top, like mammals. In insects that do not have tympanic organs (ants), the irritation that causes auditory perception is apparently not a change in pressure, but the speed of molecular movement, which is maximum in the center of the waves. Indeed, observations have shown that some antennal hairs begin to vibrate when an insect is placed in the center of the waves, where the amplitude of particle motion is reduced to 2 microns (Autrum)." In general, apparently, sound does not play a significant role for ants (Wilson, 1963b). In different places on the body of ants there are small areas densely covered with hairs, the so-called bristle fields. The functional meaning of these fields was recently deciphered by R. Hubert (1962). Using fields of bristles on their antennae, ants perceive air movement. Other fields are receptors of gravity. With horizontal movement, the orientation is carried out by the coxal and abdominal fields, and with vertical movement, the fields of the neck, petiolus, antennae and coxa. In F. polyctena it is shown by sequential exclusion of fields that for correct orientation at least one of the receptor systems must be mobile. The organs of tactile sense (touch) are distant hairs located throughout the body and special organs of the antennae. With the help of these same organs, ants perceive vibrations of the substrate.

Reproductive system and poisonous glands.

The male reproductive apparatus consists of paired testes, paired seminiferous ducts, which then merge into the unpaired spermatic duct, which opens into the aedeagus.
On each of the paired ducts, before they merge, there are seminal sacs that serve to store sperm. The testes consist of several lobes. In F. sanguinea, according to Adlertz (according to Wheeler, 1910), each testis consists of 21 lobes. The female reproductive apparatus consists of a large number of oviducts that open into paired oviducts, which merge to form an unpaired oviduct. The seminal receptacle serves to store sperm, which in ants is retained throughout the life of the females, since they have a single fertilization. The seminal receptacle is equipped with a special paired gland and opens with a duct into the unpaired oviduct. The development of eggs before fertilization takes place in the egg tubes. In female F. rufa s. 1. there are 45 of them, in F. rufibarbis s. 1.—18—20. Formica workers also have egg tubes, but they are much smaller. Thus, in F. sanguinea there are 3-6, in F. pratensis - 2-6, in F. rufa (s. 1.) - 4-10 (Donisthorpe, 1915). As recent studies have shown (Otto, 1958a and others), in F. polyctena young workers have developed functioning ovaries (Fig. 10, 3-6), and in old individuals the eggs are resorbed.

1 - poisonous gland: a - glandular processes, b - secretory tubules, c - reservoir; 2 - Dufour's gland.

Of the glands that belong to the reproductive apparatus, but have changed their functions, the poisonous gland and the Dufour glands should be noted. In stinging Hymenoptera, these glands function as poison glands. The poisonous gland has an acidic excretion, while the Dufour gland has an alkaline excretion. In different species of Hymenoptera, the role of these glands is different. In the honey bee and bumblebees, for example, the Dufour glands become of primary importance, while Formica is an extreme variant of the development of the acidic poison gland.

The Formica venom gland consists of a large muscular reservoir that stores venom, and a dorsal glandular portion. The glands are tubes that open at one end in the center of the reservoir, and at the other end they form paired glandular processes. The walls of the tubes consist of polygonal cells, each of which has a channel starting in the cytoplasm and opening into the cavity of the tube. When expanded, the glands reach 20 cm (Wneeler, 1910).

All representatives of the subfamily Formicinae do not have a stinger and, when defending themselves, use their jaws and squirt excreta from the poisonous gland, and depending on the predominance of one or another method of defense, the gland can be developed differently (Stumper, 1952). Formica s. str. capable, by contracting the muscles of the reservoir, to throw out a stream of poison at a distance of about 20 cm.

Composition of the venom of Formica s. str. studied by many authors (Stumper, 1950, 1959a, b, 1960; Osman, Brander, 1961, etc.): 61-65% of the poison is formic acid (HCOOH). The poison does not contain any other acids. 1.17-l.85% of the poison is a dry substance, soluble in acetone, which contains 19.85% NH3 in wintering workers or 4.83% NH3 in summer workers and 15-17% amino acids. There are no phosphates in ant venom (Osman, Brander, 1961). About 75% of the dry matter of the venom is an odorous substance, apparently terschoid (Stumper, 1959a, b). It is formed in the Dufour glands. Stumper (1959a, b) suggests that this substance is a trace pheromone, but this assumption is unproven.

The amount of formic acid depends on the weight of the ants (Stumper, 1951).
After three weeks, the spent contents of the reservoir are restored (Sauerlander, 1961). The process of acid formation in the body is unknown, and several hypotheses have been put forward on this subject (review - O Rourke, 1950b). Ant venom has an insecticidal and antibiotic effect. Only formic acid has an insecticidal effect (Osman and Kloft, 1961). It acts as a nerve poison on frogs and affects mainly the functioning of the heart and respiration (Tsitovich, Smirnov, 1915). The antibiotic effect is associated with other components of the venom (Sauerlander, 1961), possibly with the terpinoid excretion of the Dufour glands (Btumper, 1959b). In Germany in 1942, studies were carried out on the disinfestation effect of formic acid (Hase, 1942). Pieces of tissue with all stages of lice development were placed in the anthills of red forest ants. The ants completely cleared the tissue within 6-24 hours. In the acid fumes, the lice died within a few hours, but the eggs remained alive. Source: Dlussky G.M.
“Ants of the genus Formica” ‹ Ant development Up The haplo-diploid mechanism of sex determination in ants. ›

Worms brain

Tiny worm

The species
C. elegans nematode
consists of only
302 neurons,
however, despite this fact, it has the same functions as the nervous system of other more complex organisms.

Scientists are studying the surprising features of the brains of roundworms to understand the underlying mechanisms of the animals' more complex behavior

. Perhaps this will help reveal some of the secrets of the human brain.

Ant and features of thinking

Researchers have conducted various experiments to understand whether ants are truly intelligent. It turns out that these creatures living in a collective can receive information, analyze it and understand tasks and goals.

As ants grow older, they go through several stages. They gradually become acquainted with new information and study for a long time. But the nervous system of insects casts doubt on whether they are truly intelligent. Scientists have concluded that ants are not able to think for themselves. In their opinion, the colonial cohesion of insects resembles the Internet; several objects solve one problem at the same time, but individually they are not able to do this. Ants can be compared to small particles, and only together do they form a single whole - a common brain.

Tunicates eat their own brains

Tunicates

are sac-like
hermaphrodite creatures
that cling to corals and filter their food in a marine fashion. They produce tadpole-like offspring that disperse into the water in search of new homes.

In the larval stage, tunicates have the same anatomical characteristics as fish, birds, reptiles and even mammals, but as they mature they lose their brains

and become literally “brainless.”

They digest their own nerve ganglia

, which are responsible for movement, which they no longer need, since for the rest of their lives tunicates lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Fish brain

The claim that women are dumber than men has long been recognized as false, but in one species of marine life this idea has a real basis

.
The brain of fish of the stickleback
, living in Lake
Mivan
in Iceland, has significant differences in size depending on gender.

Rare fish with striking behavior and unusual appearance

Scientists believe that this disparity may be due to the fact that males need to use more brain resources

, since they compete with each other, build nests, care for females during the mating season, and even take care of eggs. Females only mate and lay eggs.

Record figures among people

Numerous studies have shown that the mass of the human brain is influenced by many factors. The difference between the male organ and the female organ is 100-150g, where men win. If we compare representatives of different races, then in this case there are no significant differences.

At different stages of development of Homo sapiens, the size of its brain also changed. For example, the maximum weight of the brain of Pithecanthropus was 900 cm3, that of Sinanthropus was approximately 1225 cm3, which is quite consistent with the size of the modern female brain. Cro-Magnons had the largest brain volume - 1880 cm3.

Today, the modern human brain weighs about 1446 cm3. Judging by the results of observations, the size of the human brain has decreased significantly. Scientists tend to attribute this deformation to improved design.

Among people, one can cite the example of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, as the owner of the largest human brain to date, weighing 2 kg 012 g. However, scientists have recorded another unique case, where the individual’s brain was 2 kg 900 g. The lifespan of this organism was only three years.

Bird brain

Many have long been interested in the question of how woodpeckers

They manage
not to damage the brain while getting food
, because they do not hit the hard surfaces of tree trunks with their beaks with such force.

Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?

Like many bird species, woodpeckers have complex skulls made up of tiny, very light-weight bones.

.
The average bird's skull weighs no more than 1 percent
of its total body weight. Woodpeckers have a built-in defense mechanism called an air sac, which cushions blows and protects the brain.

External device

The external structure of an ant looks like this:

The abdomen, sometimes with a sting and sometimes without it, is connected through a stalk to the thorax, consisting of an anterior, mid and metanotum, to which the head and legs are attached. On the head there are simple eyes for determining illumination and the plane of inclination, as well as complex faceted eyes, flagella-antennae-mandibles-antennae, consisting of handles and frontal ridges, clypeus and mandibles. The legs consist of a paw with two claws and an adhesive pad for holding on flat surfaces, a spur for cleaning the antennae, tibia, thigh, and also a trochanter attached to the coxa. The entire body is covered with chitinous protection, giving it strength.

Big brains of dogs

Dogs of the King Charles Spaniel

They have an affable character and sweet appearance, for which they are widely used.
However, in the process of breeding this breed, it turned out that the dogs had one serious problem: many representatives began to develop a disease in which the animals' brains were too large to fit into their small heads
.

Top 10 rarest dog breeds

According to one veterinarian, it's like trying to fit your foot into a shoe that's several sizes too small. The disease kills about one third of dogs of this breed.

Moreover, the poor animals suffer greatly from headaches.

Amazing Crow Brain

Corvids

– a family of birds that includes
crows, rooks, jackdaws, jays and magpies
.
These birds are known to be quite intelligent, and their level of intelligence can sometimes be compared to that of primates.
A bird's brain is developed at the level of a seven-year-old child

Their extraordinary memory, ability to reason logically and the ability to use tools surprised scientists a lot. These birds are able to use tools, such as sticks, to reach tasty larvae

.
chimpanzees
have such abilities .

Birds also know how to hide food from prying eyes, but sometimes they can make false hiding places: they pretend to hide something in order to confuse thieves

who want to feast on other people's supplies.

Dolphin brain

Did you know that a dolphin's brain is actually larger than a human's brain

?
The bottlenose dolphin
, for example, can recognize, remember, and solve problems, making it the closest intelligent creature on our planet to humans.

Dolphins and humans have common “smart” genes

New cortex

The dolphin's intelligence is more complex than that of humans; it gives dolphins self-awareness, that is, they
are able to really think
, and not just act based on instincts.

Animals with big brains

Researchers, after observing dozens of different species of animals, concluded that those whose absolute brain volume is larger have better control over their behavior.
We are not talking about the mass of the brain, but about its relationship to the volume of the body. Interestingly, monkeys, wolves, and carnivorous dogs showed good self-control, but the elephant showed poor results. You can evaluate the brain not by the ratio of its volume to body volume, but by size. There are several record holders. It is known that among terrestrial animals the elephant has the largest brain mass. About five kilograms – that’s how much the brain of an Indian elephant weighs.

Indian Elephant Brain

The record holder among all living creatures on the planet for brain weight is the whale Physeter Macrocephalus. The brain of this animal can reach nine kilograms. However, if you calculate the ratio of brain to body, you get 1/40,000. The weight of a whale's brain depends on its age and species. It is known that the blue whale is much larger than the sperm whale, but its brain is smaller and weighs only six kilograms and eight hundred grams.

Another owner of a big brain is the northern beluga dolphin. Its brain weighs two kilograms, three hundred and fifty grams, while that of the bottlenose dolphin weighs only one kilogram, seven hundred and thirty-five grams.

The brain of a beluga whale weighs almost 2.5 kg

The living creature of the planet with a big brain is man. On average, his brain weighs from one kilogram twenty grams to one kilogram nine hundred and seventy grams.

Human brain

Humans belong to the animal

However, as we know, we are too different from other representatives of the animal world, in particular
we have a unique brain
.

How the body affects the brain: six main aspects of influence

It is known for certain that the human brain is more developed

than the brains of its closest primate relatives.
But we ourselves cannot fully understand its complexity and versatility. The brain uses about 20 percent
of the total amount of oxygen in our body, it can process information very quickly, and each part has separate functions.