A unique fossil from the dinosaur era reveals the secret of the emergence of intelligence in birds

Researchers have found the skull of a previously unknown starling-sized bird species called Navaornis hestiae. This unique fossil from the dinosaur era has revealed the secret of the emergence of intelligence in birds.

According to scientists, it is almost impossible to find such an intact fossil bird dating back to the Mesozoic era. That makes this find one of the most unique and important of its kind, IflScience writes.

After recreating the brain of an ancient bird, scientists came to an unexpected conclusion. It turns out that the expression "bird brain" has lost its relevance. After all, the increased size of the gray matter of this species of bird indicates that it was smarter than the oldest bird-like dinosaurs. Instead, it lacked the developed cerebellum found in modern birds, which is associated with complex flight control.

"This fossil is truly so unique that I was amazed from the moment I first saw it to the moment I finished assembling all the skull bones and brain, allowing us to fully appreciate the anatomy of this early bird," said study co-author Guillermo Navalone, a paleontologist at the University of Cambridge.

According to scientists, birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs during the Jurassic period. Navaornis's discovery filled a 70 million-year gap in understanding the evolution of bird neuroanatomy, starting with the oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx, which lived in Europe about 150 million years ago, Reuters reports.

Due to the fact that the bird's fossil is almost perfectly preserved, the team of experts managed to recreate its brain using modern microcomputer scanning. The resulting image initially looked a bit like a pigeon's brain, but scientists soon realized that the brain did not belong to a modern bird, but to a feathered group that split off from modern birds more than 130 million years ago.

"This fossil represents a species that is in the middle of the evolutionary path of bird cognition. Navaornis's cognitive abilities may have given it an advantage in finding food or shelter, and it may have had the capacity for complex mating displays or other sophisticated social behavior," said senior author of the study, Cambridge professor Daniel Field.

"Modern birds have some of the most advanced cognitive capabilities in the animal kingdom, comparable only to mammals. However, it was difficult for scientists to understand how and when the unique brains and amazing intelligence of birds developed. Therefore, scientists were waiting for the discovery of such a fossil," Field summarized.

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