A Scaled Ratio of Body Weight to Brain Weight as a Comparative Index for Relative Importance of Brain Size in Mammals of Widely Varying Body Mass
Since very little can be determined about the relative importance of brain size in mammals from a simple body-weight/brain-weight ratio, a scaled ratio is proposed that takes into account the mathematical peculiarities of the cube/square relationship between body size and brain size in mammals of widely varying body masses. The values obtained from this scaled ratio appear to arrange these animals in an order more consistent with their observed intellectual capacities.