the nervous system

[Pancakes]

im meant to be writing a report on the nervous system and have to identify any differences between the horse and human but all i can think of is the size (have trawled thru loads of books but they wernt very helpful)

...........can any smart ppl out there think of any others?
my friend did say the human is smarter than the horse but this is coming from sum1 who put tinfoil in th microwave

 

[saz5083]

peripheral or central? If including CNS could mention horses dont have a prefrontal cortex (present in humans and other predators and omnivores, and thought to be responsible for reasoning and planning). They are however thought to have an excellent memory which is required to know which food is safe and where to find it etc.

 

[kerilli]

umm, i'm no vet, but just based on common sense (ish):
surely horse has a totally different system when it comes to foot? (are there far fewer nerve endings in the hoof than in the human foot?)
we have very sensitive hands, c.f. hooves!
horse maybe has hypersensitive areas that we don't, e.g. nose. (whiskers!!)
as a flight animal, is horse much quicker to respond to threat, etc? faster responses
umm, sorry, that's a bit crap but i hope better than nothing!

 

[saz5083]

Oh, and the horses brain is actually comparatively smaller when taken in relation to overall body mass. It accounts for about 0.1% where as in humans its about 2%.

 

[kerilli]

that explains a lot...!

 

[Walrus]

Horses have a relatively larger cerebellum than humans - important for balance, coordination and movement.

It's a bit of a vauge one - are you talking anatomical differences or functional differences? Horses are flight/fight creatures, not sure but maybe there is a difference in the sympathtic / parasympathetic system?? Or are you talking CNS? Or all of it?

Really I have no clue - should get back to doing some actual work!

 

[Walrus]

[ QUOTE ]
that explains a lot...!

[/ QUOTE ]

We used to say that in anatomy dissection horse brains are tiny compared to thier body size, especially if you see how big a human brain is!

 

[Pancakes]

HHO's never fail me thanx that was a really big help!!!

was generally talking about the whole thing and anything that genrally differs.
i will get back to scribbling away

thanx again every1!

 

[fatpiggy]

Horses are really easily electrocuted - a shock which would just knock a human down will kill a horse.