Random Fascinating, Borderline Unbelievable Animal Brains (14 items)

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  (#5) Tree Shrews Have The Highest Brain-To-Body Mass Ratio Of Any Mammal

  Though it’s not always accurate, a lot of scientists still put a lot of faith in measuring intelligence by the ratio of brain mass to body mass. By that token, humans are actually fifth in the pecking order of intelligence. The mammal that scores the highest? The tree shrew.

  That extra brain power has imbued in the tree shrew a positively weird assortment of abilities, like drinking fermented nectar without getting drunk, for example. They have also developed pretty extensive symbiotic relationships with several types of plants.
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  (#1) Crow

  • Corvus

  If you’ve ever been unsettled while walking through a park because you caught the piercing black eye of an idling corvid - the bird family to which crows, ravens, and their ilk belong - you were right to be wary. A study done in 2004 indicated that corvids may have the reasoning power of some nonhuman primates.

  How smart are corvids? They may very well be among the most intelligent animals on earth. The study found these birds figured out how to rid themselves of parasites by using ant formic acid, learned how to use passing cars as a means to crack nuts, and they are extremely self-aware. 
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  (#8) Sperm Whale

  • Physeter macrocephalus

  At an average of about 16 pounds, sperm whales have the largest brain of any living mammal. That might sound like a lot, but when you consider sperm whales can get up to 63 tons, it’s not super impressive.

  In fact, scientists believe the sperm whale’s one-of-a-kind noggin was actually made for ramming other whales. The theory spawns from the sperm whale’s long history of sinking ships for no apparent reason. A sperm whale was the inspiration for Moby Dick.

  Though the whale’s head is huge, most of a sperm whale’s cranium is composed of “two large, oil-filled organs stacked one on top of the other - the spermaceti organ on top, and another below it called the junk.” According to scientists, partitions in the connective tissue inside the junk actually helps reduce stress when the sperm whale uses its head to smash into stuff.
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  (#14) Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

  The next time you need an argument in favor of visiting a pet rescue instead of buying from a breeder, consider the case of the poor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Thanks to years of inbreeding, the spaniel’s skull can actually be too small to accommodate the entirety of the cerebellum.

  In addition to a series of medical problems, the issue typically manifests as the animal using its back leg to scratch the air (it’s aiming for the base of its neck.)
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  (#2) Leech

  • Hirudinea

  The internal structure of the average leech is divided into 32 equal segments. Each of those segments has its own brain. Technically each segment has one ganglia - a structure containing a number of nerve cells - that belongs to one 32-segment structure, but the distinction is moot in practice. The thing has 32 brains. The first four sections of the brain are dubbed the "anterior brain" and contains the leech's signature sucker. 

  The brain isn’t the only thing that leeches double-up on. They’ve also got a matching set of reproductive organs and nine pairs of testes. Another fun fact: leeches are considered hermaphrodites. 
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  (#10) Three-spined stickleback

  • Gasterosteus aculeatus

  Native to Iceland, the three-spined stickleback is a one-of-a-kind species. One thing that makes it really unique? The male of the species have a much larger brain than the female. In fact, the three-spined stickleback is the only known species with this aberration.

  The prevailing theory to explain this disparity is that the male of the species has a longer list of chores in his day-to-day life. Males have to defend territory, build a nest, change their skin pigment, and then look after any kids. The female of the species just shows up, lays eggs, and then takes off. All that said, scientists still aren’t sure if the physical difference in brain size adds up to a cognitive advantage for males.

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