Abstract
The cerebral cortex of cetaceans has interested neuroanatomists for many years because of its remarkable appearance and volume. The ratio of cortical area to brain volume is higher in dolphins than in humans (Elias and Schwartz, 1969; Hofman, 1985; Ridgway, 1986), while the total cortical volume and ratio of brain to body weight almost reach human levels (Ridgway, 1986). Early descriptions of cetacean cortex were of its gross morphology (for review see Flanigan, 1972), but later workers investigated its microscopical structure (Riese, 1925; Rose, 1926; Langworthy, 1932; Pilleri et al., 1968; Morgane and Jacobs, 1972; Entin, 1973; Kesarev et al., 1977; Morgane et al., 1980, 1985, 1986; Jacobs et al., 1984; Garey et al., 1985; Garey and Leuba, 1986; Ferrer and Perera, 1988) while some studied functional localization (Lende and Akdikmen, 1968; Lende and Welker, 1972; Sokolov et al., 1972; Ladygina et al., 1978). One of the striking features of cetacean cortex compared with, for example, that of the primate, is the relative lack of structural differentiation between functional areas (Kesarev et al., 1977).
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Garey, L.J., Revishchin, A.V. (1990). Structure and Thalamocortical Relations of the Cetacean Sensory Cortex: Histological, Tracer and Immunocytochemical Studies. In: Thomas, J.A., Kastelein, R.A. (eds) Sensory Abilities of Cetaceans. NATO ASI Series, vol 196. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0858-2_2
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