This web exhibit was first built in 2000 by Patricia Anne Kinser, Haverford College, under the direction of Paul Grobstein, Bryn Mawr College. The updated version of Comparative Neuroanatomy and Intelligence is now online at http://serendipstudio.org/exchange/brains. This old version has been archived in place, and will continue to be available for teachers and students who are using it.

Home Page

Compare Brains

• Pictures
  
• Similarities
  
• Differences

Compare Brain and Body Sizes

• Brains & Bodies
  
• Equalize body size
  
• Equilize brain size

Compare Brain Structures- Slices and Slides

• Directional terminology
  
• Sagittal cuts
  
• Main structures
• What's the point: magnification

The Neuron- Up Close and Personal

• Jello, mush, or neuron?
  
• Neurons in animals
  
• What is a neuron?
• Fun facts

The Question of Intelligence

• Why do we care?
  
• Methods for studying brain & intelligence

Links

Glossary

Bibliography

Now we are looking at a cross-section of the forebrain of a cat.

This picture is a good illustration of the cerebral cortex at the frontal lobe of the brain. You can also see the body of the corpus callosum which is the structure connecting the two hemispheres of the brain. The white elliptical openings within the brain are ventricles.

Does this look different than what you saw in the human and monkey forebrains???? What is similar? What is different? Compare with the human forebrain. Or go back to the monkey forebrain page. Do you notice any differences in amounts of neocortex? Try to remember what you saw in the midsagittal views... how much cortex do cats have in comparison to humans? in comparison to monkeys? It seems that cats do, indeed, have less neocortex relative to their brain size. Also, they have a large degree less gyrencephalization (or less cortical folding). What does that mean in terms of their intelligence?

Click on the brain for an even closer look at the cells which make up all of these brain structures. Or click on a button below for a more indepth discussion of the structures and functions seen in this and other pictures.

Now, let's slice the rat brain

I want to know more about these structures and their functions

Go back to the sagittal view of the cat brain

Huh? Can we start over?