Smart Whales have Human-type Cells

HUMPBACK whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, US researchers report.

Patrick Hof and Estel Van der Gucht, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, studied the brains of humpback whales and discovered a spindle neuron in the cortex, in areas comparable to where they are seen in humans and great apes.

This might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species.

The finding may help explain some of the behaviour seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, co-operation, cultural transmission and tool usage, the researchers reported in The Anatomical Record.

Link:

• The Age