2007-03-06 05:47:27 · 8 answers · asked by christine j 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
it definitely depends on the ant species. In the smaller ants the brain takes up most of the space in the head. so head size gives you a good idea.
Below two links to 3D reconstructions of an ant brain. The first one has a scale bar in one corner, the length of that bar is 0.1mm for your comparison. So my rough estimate is that an average sized ant brain is about 1mm across.
2007-03-06 07:12:59 · answer #1 · answered by convictedidiot 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Don't know the actual size, but this is interesting: 'Ant brains are largest amongst insects. Mushroom shaped brain appendages have function similar to the gray-matter of human brains. It has been estimated that an ant's brain may have the same processing power as a Macintosh II computer.' If you've ever taken the time to watch them, they are fascinating; they can carry 10-20 times their body weight and, working as a team, they can move really heavy things, plus they maintain a well-structured society. Amazing insects.
2007-03-06 06:03:31 · answer #2 · answered by uknative 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.
www.thaibugs.com/Articles/ant%20facts.htm
Ant brains are largest amongst insects.
http://home.att.net/~B-P.TRUSCIO/STRANGER.htm
or for an exact measurement, I bet you could email the guy who wrote this article:
Morphologic representation of visual and antennal information in the ant brain.
* Gronenberg W,
* Holldobler B.
Arizona Research Laboratories, Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona, 602 Gould-Simpson Science Building, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. wulfi@neurobio.arizona.edu
Ants in general are primarily olfactory animals, but many species also express visual behaviors. We analyze in 14 species, which range from purely olfactory to predominantly visually behaving ants, how the brains are equipped to control such behavior. We take the size and manifestation of the eyes as an indicator for the prevalence of vision in a given species, and we correlate it with the size of particular brain regions. Our morphometric data show that the size of the eyes generally correlates well with that of the optic lobes. The antennal lobes and the mushroom bodies have a surprisingly constant relative volume whereas, as expected, the relative size of the optic lobes varies strongly across species. Males of different species are more similar. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PMID: 10441753 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2007-03-06 05:53:04 · answer #3 · answered by mog 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.
2007-03-06 05:51:26 · answer #4 · answered by Spunky 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
a 1/5 the sixe of the ant, bout the size of my brain!!
2007-03-06 05:50:15 · answer #5 · answered by Carpe_Diem 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
See: George W. Bush.
2007-03-06 05:50:10 · answer #6 · answered by wigginsray 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a googolplexth of an atom
2007-03-06 05:49:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
...and what do they spend all their free time thinking about?
2007-03-06 05:53:12 · answer #8 · answered by Stewart 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋