Encephalization

Encephalization is defined as the amount of brain mass related to an animal's total body mass. Quantifying an animal's encephalization has been argued to be directly related to that animal's level of intelligence. Aristotle wrote in 335 B.C. "Of all the animals, man has the brain largest in proportion to his size." Also, in 1871, Charles Darwin wrote in his book The Descent of Man: "No one, I presume, doubts that the large proportion which the size of man's brain bears to his body, compared to the same proportion in the gorilla or orang, is closely connected with his mental powers."

In 2004, Dennis Bramble and Daniel Lieberman proposed that early Homo were scavengers that used stone tools to harvest meat off carcasses and to open bones. They proposed that humans specialized in long-distance running to compete with other scavengers in reaching carcasses. It has been suggested that such an adaptation ensured a food supply that made large brains possible.

More encephalized species tend to have longer spinal shock duration.

Encephalization may also refer to the tendency for a species to evolve larger brains through time. Anthropological studies indicate that bipedalism preceded encephalization in the human evolutionary lineage after divergence from the chimpanzee lineage. Compared to the chimpanzee brain, the human brain is larger and certain brain regions have been particularly altered during human evolution. Most brain growth of chimpanzees happens before birth while most human brain growth happens after birth.

Encephalization quotient

Main article: Encephalization quotient

Snell's equation of simple allometry is:

$E=CS^r$

Here "E" is the weight of the brain, "C" is the cephalization factor and "S" is body weight and "r" is the exponential constant. The exponential constant for primates is 0.28 and either 0.56 or 0.66 for mammals in general.

The "Encephalization Quotient" (EQ) is the ratio of "C" over the expected value for "C" of an animal of given weight "S".

Species	EQ	Species	EQ
Human	7.44	Dog	1.17
Dolphin	5.31	Cat	1.00
Chimpanzee	2.49	Horse	0.86
Raven	2.49	Sheep	0.81
Rhesus Monkey	2.09	Mouse	0.50
Elephant	1.87	Rat	0.40
Whale	1.76	Rabbit	0.40

This measurement of approximate intelligence is more accurate for mammals than for other phyla of Animalia.

See also

• Evolutionary biology
• Cephalization
• Human evolution
• Human brain

Further reading

• (Also cited in various publications as volume 16, issue 2, pp. 30–37. For example)

External links

• Encephalization quotients, Kleiber's Law, and statistical methodspt:Encefalização