Quantitative brain organisation in anteaters (Edentata-Tubilidentata)

We can state that the encephalization and the quantitative organisation of the brain in edentates sensu lato exhibit a certain degree of common patterning but also differences between groups that have long been separated. Orycteropus in Africa and the dasypodids in South America can be considered relatively primitive if evolutionary progress is linked essentially with encephalization and neocorticalization. But again, as pointed out by Pirlot (1980), the concept of primitiveness needs careful reconsideration. To this end, more genera from the classical edentate group ought to be worked upon. In particular, the South American bradypodid Choloepus would be of great interest, as well as the African pangolin (Manis). Above all, more data are needed on the behaviour of all those ill-toothed mammals, especially in connection with their olfaction and their balance control as well as with the relative use they make of vision and audition. This project is now at an early stage in Montreal.