IUBio

Dolphin brain

who at cares.com who at cares.com
Tue Jan 26 14:43:21 EST 1999


>It's true that dolphins have unilateral sleep. And if I 
>remember correctly, dolphins also have little or non REM 
>sleep. 

Interesting. Do you remember your source, i'd like to dig in a bit.


The  amount of time spent in REM sleep correlate
>negatively with neocortical volume.

The're many correlates with REM (also note intra-individual changes:
development and aging). 
I do not understand why thier amount of REM "explains" their cortical
volume.
Only if the function is exposed I will agree. But REM doesn't relate
to function, it refers to a phenomenon.


mammal with the largest neocortex when the effect of
>body mass scaling is removed (that is, neocortical volume
>devided by bodymass^0.65) is the Echidna. The Echidna 
>(also called the spiny ant-eater) is a monotreme,
>i.e. one of the most relictual mammals. For example, the
>it lays eggs and lack mammillary nipples. So the
>most relictual (primitive) mammal species has the biggest 
>neocortex. Interestingly, the Echidna lack REM sleep 
>all together.

So what? 


>
>If I am not wrong, the small amount (none?) of REM sleep
>found among dolphins fully explain their enlarged
>neocortex. But the functional role of REM sleep remain 
>a mystery.  


So what did you "explain"?

Thanx ffor the info though!  :  )



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