Predicted number of neurons in elephant brains if they scaled according to rodent cellular scaling rules

Value 2.3e+10 neurons Range: Table - link neurons
Organism Elephant sp.
Reference Herculano-Houzel S. The human brain in numbers: a linearly scaled-up primate brain. Front Hum Neurosci. 2009 3: 31. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.031.2009. p.9 table 3PubMed ID19915731
Comments P.8 left column bottom paragraph: "Although direct measurements of cellular composition are not yet available from whole elephant and whale brains, it is illuminating to consider how their cellular compositions would differ depending on whether predicted from the scaling rules that apply to rodent or to primate brains. As shown in Table 3, the difference in numbers of neurons predicted to compose the brains of the false killer whale and of the African elephant is 10-fold depending on the scaling rules employed. Speculatively, the estimate of neuronal density in the gray matter of the cerebral cortex of the whale and the elephant at a low figure of about 7000 neurons/mm^3 (Tower, 1954 ) suggests that these brains conform to scaling rules that are much closer to those that apply to rodents than to the primate scaling rules. It may turn out, therefore, these very large brains are composed of remarkably fewer neurons than the human brain, despite their size, thanks to the distinct, economical scaling rules that apply to primates in general (and not to humans in particular)." See note beneath table
Entered by Uri M
ID 109426