Subj: brain size
Date: 5/18/99 7:26:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (DAVID KREINER)
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: <A
HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> (DAVID
KREINER)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I had the following question from a student in my General Psychology
class. Does anyone have a reference handy for this? Thanks in
advance.
"How much does the largest brain ever documented weigh? In a human?
In an animal?"
David Kreiner
Professor of Psychology
Central Missouri State University
Warrensburg MO 64093
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: 660 543-8076
Fax: 660 543-8505
David,
I don't know that the data exist to answer your student's question directly.
The following copied from one of my favorite resources of brain trivia may,
however, be of interest. The page/site is maintained by:
Eric H. Chudler, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Dept. of Anesthesiology
University of Washington, Box 356540
Seattle, Washington 98195-6540
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional tid bits of potential interest, the link is below:
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/facts.html
<A HREF="http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/facts.html">Brain Facts and
Figures
</A>
Brain Facts and Figures
These data were obtained from several textbooks. Note that all data are
estimates and averages. Check literature for appropriate references. All
numbers are for humans unless otherwise indicated.
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Table of Contents
BRAIN SPINAL CORD NEURON
SENSORY APPARATUS
BLOOD SUPPLY
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Brain
Average Brain Weights (in grams)
Species Weight (gm)
------- -----------
adult human 1,300 - 1,400 (about 3 pounds)
newborn human 350 - 400
sperm whale 7,800
elephant 6,000
bottle-nosed dolphin 1,500
walrus 1,126
Pithecanthropus Man 850 - 1,000
camel 762
giraffe 680
hippopotamus 582
horse 532
polar bear 498
gorilla 465 - 540
cow 425-458
chimpanzee 420
orangutan 370
tiger 263.5
lion 240
grizzly bear 234
sheep 140
baboon 137
adult rhesus monkey 90-97
dog (beagle) 72
aardvark 72
beaver 45
cat 30
porcupine 25
squirrel monkey 22
marmot 17
rabbit 10-13
platypus 9
alligator 8.4
squirrel 7.6
opossum 6
flying lemur 6
fairy anteater 4.4
guinea pig 4
hedgehog 3.35
tree shrew 3
fairy armadillo 2.5
owl 2.2
rat (400gm body weight) 2
hamster 1.4
elephant shrew 1.3
turtle 0.3
bull frog 0.24
viper 0.1
green lizard 0.08
Reference for many of these brain weights:
Blinkov, S.M. and Glezer, I.I. The Human Brain in Figures and Tables. A
Quantitative Handbook, Plenum Press, New York, 1968.
Nieuwenhuys, R., Ten Donkelaar, H.J. and Nicholson, C. The Central Nervous
System of Vertebrates. Vol. 3, Springer, Berlin, 1998.
