Pre- and Postnatal Ontogeny of Brain Size in Beluga and Bowhead Whales

Ontogenetic brain growth in cetaceans is essential for understanding their development and evolution. This study investigates brain size changes relative to body growth in bowhead (Balaena mysticetus) and beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) whales in the framework of age estimates of pre- and postnatal specimens.

We collected specimens in the field, determined brain size and endocranial volumes, as well as size of endocranial adnexa, either by direct measurement or by CT. We estimated age using baleen length (bowhead), growth layers in teeth (belugas), or fetal stages. We fitted Gompertz growth models to our data.

Our findings show that both bowhead and beluga whales reach nearly their full brain size by the end of weaning, unlike dolphins and humans, whose brains continue growing after weaning. Bowhead brains grow faster than those of belugas, and much faster than those of humans, and their rete mirabile occupies a much larger portion of the cranial cavity than in belugas. Encephalization quotients decline with age due to continued body growth after brain maturation.

Brain growth in these cetacean species plateaus early, challenging the assumption that cetacean brains grow throughout life. In bowhead, the brain is significantly smaller than the cranial cavity, and this is not the case in beluga. If this observation can be generalized to all mysticetes and odontocetes, it implies that no single equation can capture the proportional volumes of the brain and cranial cavity across the entire cetacean clade.