A leech (Hirudinea) has 32 brains throughout its segmented body. An Octopus (Octopoda) has 9 brains, one for its head and 8 for its arms (legs?).
How do these animals process tasks using multiple brains? It would suck if 3 out of your 8 arms wanted to go find a place to hide while your brain and other 5 arms are actively hunting.
In: 228
Well, as centralised as our brain is, it has many different compartments that are good for different things and we would function equally well if they were separated into smaller “brains”. In the end, our brain is just a place where the complicated neuronal networks reside, but they don’t have to be necessary concentrated in a ball inside a skull.
Vertebrates (like us) have a special evolutionary trait that lets signals travel through nerves exceptionally fast (called myelin). Non-vertebrates don’t have this, so separating those compartments into different “brains” lets them be closer to the organs they command or take sensory input from and makes their reaction times faster.
Latest Answers