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Evolution of Gyrification in Carnivores
George A Lyras1, Aggeliki Giannakopoulou, Miranda Kouvari
1Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografos, Greece.
Brain, Behavior and Evolution
|January 10, 2017
Summary
Aquatic carnivores exhibit greater cortical folding (gyrification) than terrestrial species. This brain feature evolved independently across diverse carnivore families throughout their evolutionary history.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The order Carnivora is a diverse mammalian group with a rich evolutionary history.
- Knowledge regarding the degree of cortical folding (gyrification) in carnivores is limited to a few species.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the degree of cortical folding in a broad sample of 64 contemporary and 37 fossil carnivore species.
- To analyze the evolutionary patterns of cortical folding and brain size scaling within Carnivora.
Main Methods:
- Measurement of gyri impression lengths on endocranial casts to quantify cortical folding.
- Validation of the method by confirming a strong correlation between gyri impression length and actual cortical folding.
Main Results:
- Aquatic and semiaquatic carnivores display significantly higher degrees of cortical folding compared to terrestrial carnivores.
- Cortical folding varies among modern carnivore families, with viverrids showing the lowest values.
- Brain size and cortical folding increased independently within different carnivore families over evolutionary time, with early carnivores (40 million years ago) showing limited cortical development.
Conclusions:
- Ecological factors, such as aquatic versus terrestrial lifestyles, are associated with differences in carnivore brain complexity.
- The evolution of the carnivore cortex involved independent increases in size and folding across distinct lineages.
- Endocranial cast analysis provides a reliable method for studying brain evolution in fossil mammals.
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