Immense Baird’s Beaked Whale Has One of the Largest Brains Among Deep-Diving Cetaceans

This abyss-diving whale carries a brain weighing several kilograms.

Top Ad Slot
🤯 Did You Know (click to read)

Toothed whales rely on specialized fatty structures in their heads to focus and receive echolocation signals.

As a large odontocete, Baird’s beaked whale possesses a substantial brain mass comparable to other large toothed whales, supporting complex acoustic processing required for deep-sea echolocation and navigation.

Mid-Content Ad Slot
💥 Impact (click to read)

Processing echoes in total darkness thousands of meters underwater demands rapid neural interpretation of returning sound waves, effectively constructing a three-dimensional acoustic map in real time.

Its neural capacity reflects the evolutionary arms race between predator and prey in the abyss, where cognition and sensory precision can determine survival in an environment devoid of light.

Source

Smithsonian Ocean Portal

LinkedIn Reddit

⚡ Ready for another mind-blower?

‹ Previous Next ›

💬 Comments