ArticleThe Journal of comparative neurology2016
Somatosensory brainstem, thalamus, and cortex of the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus).
Article in The Journal of comparative neurology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Brain of the African Wild Dog. V. The Somatosensory System and Vestibular Nuclear Complex.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Article
- "Of Marine Mammal Neuroscience and Men": Needs and Perspectives in Marine Mammal Neuroscience.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025Review
- Neurological examination of Pacific harbor seal (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Fossil brains provide evidence of underwater feeding in early seals.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Volumetric and connectivity assessment of the caudate nucleus in California sea lions and coyotes.Animal cognition · 2022Article
- The Structure of the Spinal Cord Ependymal Region in Adult Humans Is a Distinctive Trait among Mammals.Cells · 2021Article
- Immunoreactivity of Vesicular Glutamate Transporter 2 Corresponds to Cytochrome Oxidase-Rich Subcompartments in the Visual Cortex of Squirrel Monkeys.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2021Article
- Seasonal plasticity in the adult somatosensory cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- A Deep-Learning Model for Underwater Position Sensing of a Wake's Source Using Artificial Seal Whiskers.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- The Relevance of Ecological Transitions to Intelligence in Marine Mammals.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Seal and Sea lion Whiskers Detect Slips of Vortices Similar as Rats Sense Textures.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Long-term histological changes in the macaque primary visual cortex and the lateral geniculate nucleus after monocular deprivation produced by early restricted retinal lesions and diffuser induced form deprivation.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2018Article
- Article
- The Comparative Neurology of Neocortical Gyration and the Quest for Functional Specialization.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pinnipeds (sea lions, seals, and walruses) are notable for many reasons, including their ape-sized brains, their adaptation to a coastal niche that combines mastery of the sea with strong ties to land, and the remarkable abilities of their trigeminal whisker system. However, little is known about the central nervous system of pinnipeds. Here we report on the somatosensory areas of the nervous system of the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). Using stains for Nissl, cytochrome oxidase, and vesicular glutamate transporters, we investigated the primary somatosensory areas in the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex in one sea lion pup and the external anatomy of the brain in a second pup. We find that the sea lion's impressive array of whiskers is matched by a large trigeminal representation in the brainstem with well-defined parcellation that resembles the barrelettes found in rodents but scaled upward in size. The dorsal column nuclei are large and distinct. The ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus has divisions, with a large area for the presumptive head representation. Primary somatosensory cortex is located in the neocortex just anterior to the main vertical fissure, and precisely locating it as we do here is useful for comparing the highly gyrified pinniped cortex with that of other carnivores. To our knowledge this work is the first comprehensive report on the central nervous system areas for any sensory system in a pinniped. The results may be useful both in the veterinary setting and for comparative studies related to brain evolution.
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