[00:00.00]Researchers say a new study on an ancient pig-like animal is helping them learn more about brain development in mammals.
[00:12.31]The animal is known as Gordonia.
[00:16.33]It is believed to have lived more than 250 million years ago in what is present-day Scotland.
[00:26.29]Back then, Scotland was part of a sandy desert.
[00:30.74]Today, it receives a lot of rain and enjoys four seasons.
[00:36.83]Gordonia was known as a protomammal - a predecessor of mammals.
[00:44.29]The creature lived during the Permian Period. Some protomammals kept some qualities of their reptile ancestors.
[00:55.30]An international group of researchers used high-quality, 3D imaging equipment to examine a Gordonia fossil.
[01:06.67]This permitted the team to make a digital copy of the animal's brain.
[01:12.71]The researchers said this led them to learn new details about the size and shape of the brain in early mammal development.
[01:21.33]The team recently released their findings about the fossil in a study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
[01:36.47]The lead writer of the study was doctoral student Hady George, who attends Britain's University of Bristol.
[01:46.33]She told Reuters news agency, "Overall, Gordonia's brain looks more like a reptile than a mammal despite it being more closely related to us than any modern living reptile."
[02:04.72]The researchers noted that the animal's brain was very different from those of modern mammals.
[02:12.79]However, the size of its brain compared to its body seemed to suggest the beginning of gains in intelligence seen later on in mammals and humans.
[02:26.44]George said the front of Gordonia's brain - called the forebrain - is comparatively much smaller than any other mammal.
[02:37.80]Another leader of the research was Steve Brusatte, a scientist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
[02:47.02]He told Reuters the brain the team studied was not as circular as a human brain.
[02:54.83]Rather, it is shaped more like "a long, arched tube."
[02:59.85]Brusatte noted that upon close examination, the researchers realized the animal's brain was "pretty big compared to the size of the body."
[03:12.84]He added that it is difficult to measure intelligence in modern-day humans.
[03:20.01]So it is even more difficult to measure this in long-disappeared animals.
[03:25.89]"But we can at least say generally that it would have been a smart creature for its time," Brusatte said.
[03:34.60]The researchers estimated Gordonia was about one meter long, weighing 20 kilograms.
[03:43.67]The animal's head was tall and wide, with a pointed mouth and tusks to help it eat desert plant material.
[03:53.90]It had a pig-like build, but its legs were not as long as a pig's, they noted.
[04:01.48]Gordonia belonged to a group of protomammals called dicynodonts.
[04:08.44]The group survived the worst mass extinction in Earth's history 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period.
[04:21.65]The extinction event is thought to have been caused by extreme volcanic activity.
[04:28.59]Scientists believe the first dinosaurs began appearing about 230 million years ago, while mammals came about around 20 million years later.
[04:43.60]I'm Bryan Lynn.
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Words in This Story
mammal - n. an animal that feeds its babies on milk from its body
predecessor - n. a person or thing that existed before another
three-dimensional (3D) - adj. having or appearing to have length, depth and height
fossil - n. something (such as a leaf, skeleton, or footprint) from a plant or animal that lived in ancient times and that you can see in old rocks
tube - n. a long, think container with a round center
arched - adj. something that has a curved shape like an arch
tusk - n. one of two long, pointed teeth that come out of the mouth of some animals
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