Week 1--The reason that there is such a long gestation period in elephants is because of the development of the brain.
Week 2-- From day 106 of gestation, clear sonoluscent brain structures with the surrounding ventricles can be depicted by ultrasound Week 3-- All organs in the fetus form because of Embryotic stem cells.
Week 4-- These Cells have the ability to differentiate (become different cells) into any type of cell in the initial stages of development and become slightly more specialized (defined as a specific type of cell, like a brain cell) as they mature.
Week 5-- The cells then can begin to divide during mitosis and the brain begins to form.
Week 6-- What would happen if something went wrong with the cell?
-If something went wrong with the brain cells that had formed it could cause many different problems. For example if the cell's structure, specifically the plasma membrane, formed incorrectly then nutrients could have a hard time diffusing across the membrane and the cell would lack nutrients. This in turn could cause the cells to not divide correctly because there wouldn't be enough energy in the cell.
Week 7-- The nutrients needed for the development of the elephants brain are Carbohydrates and lipids. Specifically lipids will increase the elephants brain capacity.
Week 8-- These nutrients will be used by the cells through passive and active transport. The lipids that are larger will be transported by active transport or endocytosis and exocytosis.
Week 9-- The nutrients that are smaller and uncharged could be transported through passive transport or diffusion and facilitated diffusion.
Week 10--The growth and development of the elephant's brain is similar to that of mans. Both the elephant and man are born with small brain masses. The mass of the new-born elephant's brain is 35% of that of the adult, while Mans is 26%. Thus, there is considerable growth and development as the calf grows up.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
http://elephant.elehost.com/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
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