How big is a sperm whale's brain?
Mark Spahn
While switching channels, I encountered a factoid from a show on the channel National Geographic Wild. The narrator said: "Sperm whales have the largest brain on the planet, five times bigger than a human."
I was surprised. (1) Humans come in various sizes (and so do sperm whales), so it is reasonable to assume that the size comparison is being made between full-grown specimens of each species. (2) The wording was definitely "five times bigger than a human", not "five times bigger than a human's [brain]". An average full-grown human male weighs -- what, 180 pounds? So a sperm whale's brain weighs about 900 pounds. Or maybe the comparison is being made by volume. To check this information, I consulted the oracular Internet, which says
http://www.whalefacts.org/sperm-whale-brain/
==QUOTE==
Reaching lengths of up to 67 ft. long the sperm whale is the largest known whale within the toothed whale family.
The sperm whale also
happens to have the largest brain and cerebrum of any known mammal
in existence today. [So, there might be some unknown mammal in
existence today that has an even bigger brain?]
In fact the sperm whales brain weighs 5 times that of a humans brain!
==UNQUOTE==
So the comparison *is* being made by weight, but the comparison is brain-to-brain, not brain-to-whole-body. And "whales" and "a humans brain" lack the apostrophe that should be there in front of the letter s.
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
Rene
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Mark Spahn
Uh, no. I am focusing on the last sentence of the quote, which does require apostrophes to be inserted in "whales" and "humans" (which are not plurals, but singular possessive forms of these nouns). But the whole quote is sloppily written. Let's take it sentence by sentence.
[1] Reaching lengths of up to 67 ft. long the sperm whale is the largest known whale within the toothed whale family.
The adjective "long" is unneeded, and a comma is missing. This
sentence should be
[1'] Reaching lengths of up to 67 feet, the sperm whale is the
largest known whale with in toothed whale family.
Here too, as in sentence [2], the use of "known" is strange, as if the writer suspects that there are species in the toothed whale family that still remain undiscovered.
Sentence [2] I have already discussed.
[3] In fact the sperm whales brain weighs 5 times that of a humans brain!
Here, the question is, what does "that" refer to? It would have to be "the weight" [of a human's brain -- or -- of a human brain (where "human" is a simple adjective]. I would rewrite this sentence as "In fact, the sperm whale's brain weighs five time as much as a human brain." [adding a comma and deleting the exclamation point].
The use of "that" is [3] reminds me of the (incorrect) use of "that" in the original lyrics of "Home, Home on the Range", heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TALS8Yd_Q9s (starting at 3:00)
How often at night / when the heavens were bright / with the light of the twinkling stars / have I stood here amazed / and asked as I gazed / if their glory exceeds that of ours
Here, "that" would have to be "the glory" and "ours" would have to be "our glory", meaning "whether the glory of the twinkling stars exceeds the glory of our glory", which doesn't quite make sense.
Bonus song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4yAXM53mI
And a tune of the Civil War that was written about 150 years after it ended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGeCPv6gw_U
While we're at it,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EG_4IBzbA
-- Mark Sp.