New discovery: The first mammal has a very good nose

Scientists have used high-resolution scanners to study the skulls of the first known mammals. The results showed that the brain perceived the smell much more developed than the rest.

The scanner shows the brain of Hadrocodium (the first mammal) -
the part is pink.

Mammals in general and humans in particular are considered animals with the largest brains compared to body size in the animal world. From that, scientists want to find out why the mammalian brain has evolved dramatically and has become increasingly complex.

The studies began to be conducted from 3D images of prehistoric animal brains. They are reconstructed by assembling cut pieces together. They did a comparison between the brain and brain size of many protozoa, 'mammary' animals with the first mammalian brain. The results showed that the first region of the brain developed and the tendency to increase gradually was the area of ​​smell recognition. This is consistent with the fact that the first mammals start hunting at night.

The hypothesis is that 200 million years ago, mammals began to have all their senses and they focused mainly on the sense of smell to feed at night, avoiding competing food sources. with dinosaurs. This not only means that they know how to share their habitats in a reasonable manner, but also allow them to make full use of food sources, especially food at night like some insects and Other arthropods.

Professor Rowe - University of California , San Diego said: ' Obviously, in the natural selection process, evolution has chosen mammals because they are superior in their ability to identify smells'.

Dr. Zhexi Luo from Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, who also participated in the study, said: ' Our fairy tales have a larger and more progressive brain but are not meant to be thought of. identify smell. That inadvertently motivated the process to advance in a better direction, favoring the brain. "