From MSNBC:
Dolphins may have big brains, but a South African-based scientist says lab rats and even goldfish can outwit them. Paul Manger of Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand says the super-sized brains of dolphins, whales and porpoises are a function of being warm-blooded in a cold water environment and not a sign of intelligence. “We equate our big brain with intelligence. Over the years we have looked at these kinds of things and said the dolphins must be intelligent,” he said.
“The real flaw in this logic is that it suggests all brains are built the same … When you look at the structure of the dolphin brain you see it is not built for complex information processing,” he told Reuters in an interview. A neuroethologist who looks at brain evolution, Manger’s views are sure to cause a stir among a public which has long associated dolphins with intelligence, emotion and other humanlike qualities. They are widely regarded as one of the smartest mammals. But Manger, whose peer-reviewed research on the subject has been published in Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, says the reality is different.
Brains, he says, are made of neurons and glia. The latter create the environment for the neurons to work properly and producing heat is one of glia’s functions. “Dolphins have a super-abundance of glia and very few neurons … The dolphin’s brain is not made for information processing — it is designed to counter the thermal challenges of being a mammal in water,” Manger said.
More here.