The African bush elephant, Loxodonta africana, survived the Quaternary termination.
Mammals with larger brains than similar-sized associated types were most likely to have actually survived termination throughout the Late Quaternary (between 115,000 to 500 years ago) reports a study released in Scientific Reports.
Previous research study has developed that mammals with a larger body size have an increased risk of extinction, but the chances of survival are less clear for large-bodied species with large brains such as the African bush elephant and the polar bear.
Jacob Dembitzer and associates investigated the brain sizes of 291 living mammal species and 50 mammal types that went extinct during the Late Quaternary. The authors gathered data on the volume of 3,616 specimen skulls, with a typical of three specimens per types, to calculate brain size, and utilized previous research for data on body mass and extinction dates.
Types that made it through the Late Quaternary had on typical 53% bigger brains than similar-sized (body mass) associated species that went extinct. The authors discovered body mass was the most crucial consider determining termination, however brain size was a considerable predictor of termination.
Within taxonomic orders, a carefully associated group of types, the authors found one of the biggest difference in body size was in between Pilosans. The authors discovered the extinct ground sloth Lestodon armatus ( weighed 4.6 tonnes) was 192-times bigger in body size than the giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla ( weighing 24kg). In the order Proboscidea (elephants, mammoths and their kin), a group that tend to have big brains, the extinct straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus ( weighed 11 tonnes) was 2.8-times larger compared to the African bush elephant, Loxodonta africana ( weighing 3.9 tonnes).
The authors propose that bigger brain size might have assisted large-bodied species that were susceptible to extinction to survive. A bigger brain may have helped species to adjust rapidly to modifications such as increased hunting by people, and may have meant the types were able to keep in mind a number of sources of food and water within an altering landscape.
Reference: “Small brains inclined Late Quaternary mammals to termination” by Jacob Dembitzer, Silvia Castiglione, Pasquale Raia and Shai Meiri, 31 March 2022, Scientific Reports.DOI: 10.1038/ s41598-022-07327-9.