New research reveals changes in relative brain sizes over last 150 million years
New research has demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, relative brain size in mammals is not solely linked to intelligence but is driven by various evolutionary pressures on body size, including adaptations caused by mass extinction and changes in climate.
The international study – the largest of its kind ever carried out – involved a team of 22 scientists, who investigated 1,400 living and extinct mammal species. In the UK, this involved Dr Jacob Dunn and Max Kerney of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) as well as academics based at UCL, the University of Salford, and the Natural History Museum.