User:KayHoff1898/The Elephant Brain

Intro:
Did you know the Elephant brain is three times larger than a human brain? It contains billions of neurons, they are found in the cerebellum. It can also weigh up to 12 pounds. Many people focus on the life and abilities of an elephant but not their brain.

Article body:
The goal was to explore the shape and sizes of neurons in an elephants cortex. "The cortex constitutes the thin, outer layer of neurons (nerve cells) that cover the two cerebral hemispheres. It is closely associated with higher cognitive functions such as coordinated voluntary movement, integration of sensory information, sociocultural learning and the storing of memories that define an individual" (Jacobs, 2021). They say the brain is radically different from anything they have ever examined before. The process starts by staining the brain tissue after it has been chemically preserved for a period of time. The stain is called the Golgi stain. It was named after the Italian biologist and Nobel Laureate Camillo Golgi. The stain impregnates only a small percentage of the neurons in the brain. It reveals the dendrites, or branches, that constitute the receptive area of the neurons. The branches then allow incoming information to be received from other cells. The greater the complexity, the greater the information the neuron can be processed. The neurons then can be traced into three dimensions under the a microscope, with the help of a computer and specialized software. The study traced 75 elephant neurons. Depending on the complexity of the cell, the tracings took one to five hours. The elephant apical dendrite resembled two human arms reaching upward. The elephant has a much wider variety of cortical neurons than any other species. Though the neurons may be close to the same as humans, they are different. The brain shows the elephant's sophisticated cognitive abilities, including social communication, tool construction and use, creative problem-solving, empathy, and self-recognition. Even though all brains are different, the elephant brain is surely an intelligent one.

References:
https://nautil.us/issue/35/boundaries/the-paradox-of-the-elephant-brain

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnana.2014.00046/full

https://earthsky.org/earth/elephants-unique-brain-neurons/