Parents provide the energy needed for their young to grow large brains. Climate change may negatively affect birds’ brain development as it impacts food supplies.
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Articles on Brain size
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In birds, big brains aren’t associated with living in large social groups – instead, they’re linked to long stints of parental feeding.
Using a new equation based on today’s primates, scientists can take a few molar teeth from an extinct fossil species and reconstruct exactly how fast their offspring grew during gestation.
New research calls into question the validity of ‘Dunbar’s number’.
The claim that our brain size limits us to 150 meaningful friendships has been challenged by a recent paper.
Rather than distinctly male or female, the human brain is much more like the heart, kidneys and lungs – basically the same no matter the sex of the body it’s in.
The cetacean brain has a specialised thermogenic system that helps the animal’s brain to produce enough heat to maintain a functional brain temperature.
For the past 50 years, international animal cognition research has focused on how tool use is related to animal intelligence. But new research casts doubt on long-held assumptions.
Attempts to find brain structures responsible for supposed cognitive sex differences have not succeeded.
We have more neurons in our cortices than any other species, courtesy of an early technology – and along with them came our long, slow lives, with plenty of chances to gather around the dinner table.
A shift in climate, along with other environmental disruptions and the invasion of competitors and new predators all likely played an important role in reshaping ancient elephants’ brains.
Top contributors
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Professor of Comparative and Evolutionary Neurobiology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Department of Experimental Psycology, University of Oxford
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Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Presidential Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for biology programs; Director, Cellular & Behavioral Neurobiology Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma
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Professor of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
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Adjunct professor in Natural Resources, University of Manitoba
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DECRA Fellow, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt University
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Associate Professor in Ethology, Stockholm University
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Researcher, Zoological Ecology, Stockholm University
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Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Western Washington University
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Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England
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Privatdozent Dr, Biology, University of Konstanz
