//Big Jurassic Birds//
Birds are amazing animals that are able to take to the skies with a natural ability of flight. I have loved interacting with birds over the years along my travels. The avian species are an interesting group and have existed all the way since the Jurassic period. They are linked from a prehistoric animal group called Archaeopteryx, a smaller carnivorous dinosaur that featured wings, giving it flight capability. Technology has allowed scientists to scan fossils to gain better insight into the physical features of the flying dinosaur. It’s safe to say that I am appreciative that I don’t live in a Land Before Time. Scanning technologies were able to confirm bone features and relate them close to that of current modern day evolved birds. Powerful, carnivorous and truly fearsome.
//High Flyer//
Evolution is a process that has happened over the course of millions of years, the bird species has an interesting story to tell and it is scanning technology that has allowed the uncovering of this story. A publication from Bruce Museum explored the evolution of brains in birds after scanning both modern bird specimens and modelling prehistoric samples based on fossil scanning and skull cavity shape/size. Birds have gotten smaller over the years and I have come across some of the bigger prehistoric looking birds such as Shoebill during my travels. As birds have evolved into smaller almost hand sized animals, it’s revealed that their brain size has remained relatively intact with respect to size. Birds are the big brain flyers of our world today.
//Bird Brain//
I have had many experiences with birds over the years and have been amazed at the level of cognitive interaction one can have with such a small being. Research points towards the smartest birds in the avian family being crows, and I recall reading over a research piece detailing crow intelligence. I’ve always viewed crows as an intelligent gang of birds and their adept ability to scavenge and even recognise humans by facial appearance is something truly fascinating. Birds may be an example of the evolution system that has made a species smaller and smart, something that can be seen in the rest of the world of technology. The emotional connection that can be observed in birds is also astounding as it’s known that birds have been known to feel love, happiness, excitement, anger and even betrayal. Birds are fascinating and this scientific look at how brains sizes and cognitive ability has been maintained over millions of years is a wonderful link of iterative evolution.
Sources
https://brucemuseum.org/site/news_detail/bruce-museum-science-news-how-birds-evolved-big-brains
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evograms_06
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03296-8