Koalas smooth brains

The koala was clinging to an old tree stag while stranded in the Murray River, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria. A team of students from La Trobe University noticed its predicament as they were paddling by in canoes, koalas smooth brains.

Did you know that the koala is the dumbest animal in the world? According to an Internet meme , koalas have really tiny brains because the eucalyptus leaves that they eat are toxic and poor in nutrition. Poor koalas! That sounds really bad. I wanted to see what this Homer Simpson brain looks like, so I did a little search.

Koalas smooth brains

Scientific name: Phascolarctos cinereus Conservation status: Vulnerable Average size: cm Weight: kg. Early settlers miscalled the koala the koala bear, due to its resemblance to a bear. Koalas are stocky with large heads. The koala has a very small brain in comparison to any other mammal based on proportion to body weight. Their brains weigh only The size of their brains makes it difficult to perform complex behaviors, including eating eucalyptus leaves from anywhere other than a branch. Koalas have a diet of mainly eucalyptus leaves, but can sometimes be found in other trees such as acacia, melaleuca, and more. They can consume about grams of leaves each day, over the course of feeding sessions. Koalas do not receive much energy from their diet, so they sleep up to 20 hours each day. They are mostly active at night.

Koalas smooth brains supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account. Oct 30, The koala is a seasonal breeder and the birth of the joey occurs between October and May.

The common misconception is that koalas are dumb because the koala brain is tiny. Marsupials, as a whole, tend to have smaller brains than other mammals, and scientists do not use the brain-to-body ratio as an intelligence parameter. Yes, it is one of the smallest brains within mammals, but Koalas are not lazy and slow because of that but most likely because of their nutrition-poor diet of otherwise toxic eucalyptus leaves. Koalas are endearing marsupials native to Australia, known for their cute appearance. As one of the most iconic Australian animals, understanding the koala brain is interesting even helpful if we want to help their conservation. Scientists analyze animal intelligence through various methods, such as observing problem-solving abilities, social behaviors, learning and adaptation, memory, and communication skills. As for koalas, they have some traits that could be perceived as signs of lower intelligence and some that may indicate cognitive abilities:.

Whenever we travel to Australia, we love to observe that iconic marsupial, the koala Phascolarctos cinereus. Even though it is becoming more and more difficult to see wild koalas in their native habitat, we have managed to track them down by following the amazing roars of the male. The koala has one of the lowest ratios of brain to body mass of any mammal. Even though koalas are dumb, they have survived because their brains use minimal energy. Using the least amount of energy possible appears to be a key adaptation to surviving on a nutritionally poor, low energy diet of toxic eucalyptus leaves. Scientists often use the ratio of brain volume to body mass or total brain volume to endocranial volume when they present encephalization data. But how accurate are these numbers? Eutherians refers to all the mammals that have a placenta; that is, all mammals except monotremes and marsupials. It may be a result of studying a live animal and a fresh dead one, rather than chemically preserved brains. Data presented here fit better into known encephalization data for other marsupials and eutherians Tobias ; Martin

Koalas smooth brains

The brain of the koala is about 20 ml in volume. The cerebral hemispheres are relatively smooth lissencephalic and reduced in size compared with other diprotodontids Haight and Nelson, , such that the superior and inferior colliculi, pineal gland, and even the roof of the third ventricle are exposed. This reduction in cortical size and therefore cerebral metabolism may be an adaptation to the poor quality of their diet. The functional areas of the cerebral cortex have not been assessed physiologically, so the labelling of S1, V1 and Au1 in the accompanying illustrations is putative based on cellular patterns in neuronal Nissl stained specimens from the Nelson collection. The cerebellum is foliated, but the cerebellar hemispheres are not as elaborate as in other diprotodontids, reflecting poor development of the cerebro ponto cerebellar circuitry. In Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution ed. Sydney: Surrey Beatty and Sons.

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I go and check on it a couple of times, but it doesn't move. Check out a few of the organizations that are working hard to keep koalas safe and healthy:. It was not too many years ago when only university researchers could have access to the resource needed to mess around with brain data. Lemmings, which stand at a mighty 6 inches long, often fight cats, birds of prey etc. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account. It represents the size of the brain not accounted for by body size, which might be related to additional factors such as intelligence. She came to Australia on an exchange from Germany as a student and was fascinated by the country's remarkable, and under-studied, marsupials. Similarly, they have no concept of what rain is. What the marsupials lack in a corpus callosum they make up for with an anterior commissure , a similar information superhighway that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. I would like to subscribe to Science X Newsletter. I'm meant to be writing a book, not doing a zoology paper, and besides—koalas don't do very much, do they? Koalas have a diet of mainly eucalyptus leaves, but can sometimes be found in other trees such as acacia, melaleuca, and more. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys. My personal gratitude for these wonderful people:. Yes, it is one of the smallest brains within mammals, but Koalas are not lazy and slow because of that but most likely because of their nutrition-poor diet of otherwise toxic eucalyptus leaves.

While humans are known for their complex and folded brain structure, not all animals share this characteristic. When it comes to koalas, their brain structure has been a subject of interest and curiosity.

The figure above on the left is remarkable. Far from being trapped in some kind of maladaptation, koalas have been set free by their remarkable diet from the anxieties and challenges that trouble so many other species. Your message to the editors. Many efforts are focused on habitat conservation. Recommended for you. GitHub is an online service that makes it easy for people to work on programming projects together. However, take note that the figure is plotted in log-log scale, which is necessary for plotting data with very wide distributions. I am not entirely sure what it is that makes koalas approach humans when they are in need. Primates as a group do tend to have larger brains for their size. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. It gives us a huge range of species, parallel to the eutherian mammals, to study and understand what underlies the different adaptations they have. Even if koala brains were smaller than average, it wouldn't necessarily mean that the animals are stupid. There are lots of things that make koalas stand out from the rest of the animal kingdom. Like most wild animals, koalas prefer to avoid coming too close to humans. Almost laughably, the mere fact that they eat eucalyptus leaves is stupid.