Study Shows Bird Brains Came Before Birds
Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - 16:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
New research published in Nature and led by Amy Balanoff, a Research Instructor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, provides evidence that dinosaurs evolved the brainpower necessary for flight well before they actually took to the air as birds. "Evolutionary origins of the avian brain" takes a comprehensive look at the so-called "bird brain." Contrary to the cliche, the term describes a relatively enlarged brain that has the capacity required for flight and was present in one of the earliest known birds, Archaeopteryx.