Get the latest tech news
Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence
A ‘one of a kind’ fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate evolution.
The extraordinary three-dimensional preservation of the skull allowed the researchers, led by the University of Cambridge and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to digitally reconstruct the brain of the bird, which they have named Navaornis hestiae. “The brain structure of Navaornis is almost exactly intermediate between Archaeopteryx and modern birds – it was one of these moments in which the missing piece fits absolutely perfectly,” said co-lead author Dr Guillermo Navalón from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. “This discovery shows that some of the birds flying over the heads of dinosaurs already had a fully modern skull geometry more than 80 million years ago,” said co-lead author Dr Luis Chiappe from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Or read this on Hacker News