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One early suggestion was brain size (or weight, which provides the same ordering.) A second proposal was brain-to-body-mass ratio, and a third was encephalization quotient, sometimes referred to as EQ. The current best predictor is number of neurons in the forebrain, based on Herculano-Houzel's improved neuron counts. [1]
Treeshrews hold about 10% of their body mass in their brain. [16] Generally speaking, the larger the animal, the smaller the brain-to-body mass ratio is. Thus, large whales have very small brains compared to their weight, and small rodents like mice have a relatively large brain, giving a brain-to-body mass ratio similar to humans. [4]
Elephants have a higher number of total neurons (257 billion) [61] compared to humans (100 billion). [62] [63] Relative brain size, overall mass, and total number of neurons are only a few metrics that help scientists follow the evolutionary trend of increased brain to body ratio through the hominin phylogeny.
An elephant's brain weighs just over 5 kg (11 lb), a bottlenose dolphin's 1.5 to 1.7 kg (3.3 to 3.7 lb), whereas a human brain is around 1.3 to 1.5 kg (2.9 to 3.3 lb). Brain size tends to vary according to body size. The relationship is not proportional, though: the brain-to-body mass ratio varies. The largest ratio found is in the shrew. [57]
The number of neurons in the brain varies dramatically from species to species. [63] In a human, there are an estimated 10–20 billion neurons in the cerebral cortex and 55–70 billion neurons in the cerebellum . [ 64 ]
The adult human brain is estimated to contain 86±8 billion neurons, with a roughly equal number (85±10 billion) of non-neuronal cells. [41] Out of these neurons, 16 billion (19%) are located in the cerebral cortex, and 69 billion (80%) are in the cerebellum.
Mice have a direct brain/body size ratio similar to humans (1/40), while elephants have a comparatively small brain/body size (1/560), despite being quite intelligent animals. [18] Treeshrews have a brain/body mass ratio of (1/10). [19] Several reasons for this trend are possible, one of which is that neural cells have a relative constant size ...
The infant brain will increase in size by a factor of up to 5 by adulthood, reaching a final size of approximately 86 (± 8) billion neurons. [4] Two factors contribute to this growth: the growth of synaptic connections between neurons and the myelination of nerve fibers; the total number of neurons, however, remains the same.