Thread: Bird Brained?

I recently read an article about the human brain. It had mentioned something about how a bird's brain was proportionately larger than a human's brain. I have heard that it isn't the size of a brain that determines intelligence (Like the sperm whale) but rather the brain to body ratio. If this ratio is larger in birds, than why aren't they smarter than a human?

Humans have the largest brain mass relative to body mass.

incorrect dolphins do...

however though the more ancient part of our brain has shrunk into a small pocket while our greater part of our brain capable of problem solving etc.. has grown greatly! So in a sense we are losing our senses and instincts as we become intelligent enough to perform them at will..

For instance our endocrine glands in more primitive species have been estimated at much smaller! This was not all that long ago in a evolutionary look. Of course our endocrine system is sort of like our second brain that simulates hormones and helps with moving the muscles we can not control by our thought process

Oops my bad...

it indeed is dolphins.

Actually, there are no simple rules about brain size versus intelligence. In terms of brain size/body mass ratios, the highest are some of the very small mammals, such as some shrews. However, their total brain size is pretty small, and so is their intelligence.

Intelligence is about that part of the brain that is adapted to provide intelligence. The total brain size is not the key, and neither is the ratio. The key is the mass of that part of the brain that supplies intelligence, and how active it is.

That part is high in humans, dolphins, various other mammals, and in a few birds.