Cognition in an Ever-Changing World: Climatic Variability Is Associated with Brain Size in Neotropical Parrots

in the evolutionary history of the group, and are particularly tied to an increased dependence on more open and climat-ically unstable habitats. As this is the first study to present evidence of the link between brain size and climatic variabil-ity in birds, our findings provide a step towards understand-ing the potential benefits underlying variation in brain size and the maintenance of highly enlarged brains in this and other groups. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Base