The human brain is different from the brain of an animal

it was found in one experiment that bees after a little training can develop artistic taste and distinguish between Monet and PicassoHoneybees can discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings. And it's not only their achievement. They can count to four Evidence for counting in insectsTo recognize complex characters, to learn from their observations and send messages to each other using a secret code - the so-called wagging dance of bees. Foraging, they estimate the distance between different colors and plan complex routes to collect more nectar with the least effort. A personal responsibilities within the swarm of bees may include cleaning and even temperature regulation: in hot weather, the bees collect the water and wetted cell.

In the human brain in 100 thousand times more neurons than the bee, though the beginnings of many of our habits can be seen in the flurry of activity swarm. So why are we all that gray matter? And it makes us different from other animals?

Is our brain just takes place?

About one-fifth of what we eat goes to maintaining the links between the 100 billion neurons. If the size of the brain did not give us any advantage, we would really translate huge amounts of energy wasted.

But the benefits still there. Our big brains at least helps us to be more efficient. When bees are exploring the terrain in search of food, they consider each object individually, while larger animals have enough intelligence to assess the whole situation entirely.

That is due to the large brains available to us notorious multitasking.

In addition, a large brain size increases the volume of our memory. Bee can keep in mind a few signals indicating the presence of food, and now the pigeon can learn to recognize more than 1800 images. And it's still nothing compared to the human capabilities. Think, for example, from memory championships participants, which can reproduce tens of thousands of decimal places in the number Pi.

Well, we no longer remember. And what else?

If we look at human civilization and all its achievements, certainly there are some abilities that are unique to the person, you might say. Culture, technology, and altruism - all this is usually considered a sign of human greatness. But the closer you look, the shorter the list becomes.

For example, it has long known that macaque smash nuts with stones and New Caledonian crow It makes a kind of hooks of broken branches, to get out from under the bark insects. And then, and then - the elementary examples of using tools. Even invertebrates are not far behind: Reef octopus collect empty coconuts and used as houses.

The researchers found in the animal world and a manifestation of cultural expressions. For example, one of chimpanzees in Zambia for no apparent reason began to go with a bunch of grass in the ear. Soon, many of his chimpanzee groups also began to do so. After long hours of observation, scientists have concluded that the first chimps behave affectedly just using herbs for decoration, and all the other monkeys picked up the trendA group-specific arbitrary tradition in chimpanzees..

Many animals have an innate sense of justice and possibly even may feel sympathyHumans are nowhere near as special as we like to think. For example, it was seen a case where humpback whales saved seal, protecting it from the killer whale attack.

So much conscious thought is only available to man!

Of all the qualities that may be responsible for the uniqueness of human consciousness the most difficult to check. Usually this is carried mirror test: the animal is applied to a small paint mark, and then it was placed in front of a mirror. If the animal observes the mark and tries to erase it, it can be assumed that it recognize itself in the mirror, and thus, to some extent, a self-consciousness.

In humans, this ability develops in about one and a half years. And among the representatives of the animal world, who recognize themselves in a mirror - chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, dolphins, killer whales, magpies and even antsList of Animals That Have Passed the Mirror Test.

So, we are no different?

Not certainly in that way. Some mental capacity is still set us apart from other species. To make it easier to understand, imagine a family conversation at the dinner table.

The first thing that catches your eye - this is what we can say in general. Whatever our thoughts and feelings during the day, we will be able to find the words to describe them. No other creatures can not communicate with the same freedom. Bee with his dance may explain the location of the flower, and even to warn relatives about the presence of dangerous insects, but the dance never give everything that happened with a bee on the way to flower.

Human language has no such restrictions. With endless combinations of words we can talk about their feelings, or to explain the laws of physics. And if we do not have some sort of term, we just invent a new one.

Even more surprising is that our conversations are not limited to the present, and can be rotated around the events of the past or the future, which is associated with one more unique to the human ability. This is an opportunity to mentally relive past events, based on the sensations of different senses.

And most importantly, the ability to remember the past allows us to predict the future and plan their activities. No other living beings do not have such detailed memories of themselves, let alone the ability to plan in advance for the whole chain of actions.

Due to language and mental time travel, we share our experiences with other people and create a knowledge base, which grow from generation to generation. And without them there would be no science, architecture, technology, writing - in short, all that will allow you to read this article.