Does anyone know how many neurons various species of birds have? I’d like to put it into perspective with the Whole Brain Emulation road map, but my googlefu has failed me.
I’ve looked for an hour and it seems really hard to find. From what I’ve seen, (a) birds have a different brain structure than mammals (“general intelligence” originates in other parts of the brain), and (b) their neuron count changes hugely (relative to mammals) during their lifetimes. I’ve seen lots of articles giving numbers for various species and various brain components, but nothing in aggregate. If you really want a good estimate you’ll have to read up to learn the brain structure of birds, and use that together with neuron counts for different parts to gather a total estimate. Google Scholar might help in that endeavor.
I also looked for a while and had little luck. I did find though that the brain-to-body-mass ratios for two of the smartest known species of birds—the Western Scrub Jay, and the New Caledonian Crow—are comparable to those of the chimps. These two species have shown very sophisticatedcognition.
Does anyone know how many neurons various species of birds have? I’d like to put it into perspective with the Whole Brain Emulation road map, but my googlefu has failed me.
I’ve looked for an hour and it seems really hard to find. From what I’ve seen, (a) birds have a different brain structure than mammals (“general intelligence” originates in other parts of the brain), and (b) their neuron count changes hugely (relative to mammals) during their lifetimes. I’ve seen lots of articles giving numbers for various species and various brain components, but nothing in aggregate. If you really want a good estimate you’ll have to read up to learn the brain structure of birds, and use that together with neuron counts for different parts to gather a total estimate. Google Scholar might help in that endeavor.
I also looked for a while and had little luck. I did find though that the brain-to-body-mass ratios for two of the smartest known species of birds—the Western Scrub Jay, and the New Caledonian Crow—are comparable to those of the chimps. These two species have shown very sophisticated cognition.
Blast.
I’ll have to keep the question in mind for the next time I run into a neuroscientist.