>>Sorry, brains aren't my specialty, so I can't answer your question. But
>just as an interesting point, I seem to recall reading once that
>dolphins sleep half their brain at a time, so that they can keep
>swimming and breathing using the remaining, awake half. They then
>periodically switch halves, so that the whole brain is rested. Can
>anyone else confirm this?
I wish.
But, I can say that humans sleep with onlky "part" of their brain: the
brainstem (medulla, pons) remeains inherentkly active or indeed
breathing fails (BPressure etc).
Perhaps a large brain is required so that
>certain functions can be duplicated.
The "large" in dolfin & primate brain refers mostly to neocortex.
These are not essential for homeostasis.
Justus