• Question: How is it possible that butterflies seem to know where they are flying and dodge dangers, when their brains must be microscopic?

    Asked by dizzyg12 to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 12 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Dizzyg- where do you get your ideas from? Are you trying to scramble my tiny brain too?

      All living things are a product of evolution. Evolution changes species because only the individuals that cope with the environment survive to have offspring. The animals we see today are the products of millions of years of evolution. To still be around butterflies must have evolved to be able to avoid danger and this means that their sensory systems (eyes etc) and the way in which their senses are picked up by the brain to produce behaviour will be perfectly tuned to the job of being a butterfly. It doesn’t matter how big their brains are really as long as they are good enough to keep the animal safe.

    • Photo: Rachel Dakin

      Rachel Dakin answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Yes evolution plays a big role in this and size isn’t everything!
      A brain only needs to be good at some things – and animals adapt to make these things easier. Some animals have huge ears and poor eye sight – they obviously rely on hearing to avoid predators or find prey. By reducing the amount of information coming in to the brain (so in this case mainly from the ears and not the eyes) the amount of processing required is reduced. This can be done quite efficiently in a smaller brain. In addition the neurones (connections in the brain) will be smaller in a smaller animal keeping them roughly relative to body size. A butterfly wouldn’t be flying well if it had to lug about a brain the size of a humans!
      I’m no expert but I seem to recall ants have quite large brains relative to their body size and even cooler they sometimes rely on the collective brain power of hundreds of ants in the colony.

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