The behavior may force the course of evolution

Having a big brain may open many doors to the animal species having, even evolutionary doors, it seems.

In the 80s it was hypothesized that the behavior can get to influence the course of evolution, more precisely intelligence can achieve an evolutionary change.

The idea is that animals can find smart ways to exploit new food, new habitats, and thus exposed themselves to nine selection pressures.

So a kind of a family taxonomic has given a large brain relative to their body size, should have widely differing body sizes, among other features, as a result of various selection pressures.

Daniel Sol of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Trevor D. Price from the University of Chicago, tested these predictions in birds.

Obtained data from 7209 species of birds from the scientific literature and found examples of families of birds that had large brains and were quite diverse in body size.

One example is the crows, woodpeckers, foci and hornbills, and parrots.

Comparing all bird families, Sol Price, demonstrated statistically that brain size accounts for 12 percent of the variation in body size. The rate may be small, but it confirms the theory that evolution, the behavior is more than just a result of selective pressures and may also alter those pressures.

Source: LiveScience