Bird brains and natural selection

Abstract

The search for an explanation for variation in brain size has been a long one, fascinating philosophers and scientists alike. With gathering pace, collaborations between evolutionary biologists, ethologists, and neuroscientists are beginning to provide exciting new insights into how and why such variation may have come about. Not only are the close relationships between behaviour and its neural substrates becoming more clearly elucidated, but there is now strong evidence for the fundamental role that natural selection has played in the evolution of the brain, particularly the avian brain.

Keywords:

• Birds
• Brain evolution