作者
Kieran CR Fox, Michael Muthukrishna, Susanne Shultz
发表日期
2017/11
期刊
Nature ecology & evolution
卷号
1
期号
11
页码范围
1699-1705
出版商
Nature Publishing Group
简介
Encephalization, or brain expansion, underpins humans’ sophisticated social cognition, including language, joint attention, shared goals, teaching, consensus decision-making and empathy. These abilities promote and stabilize cooperative social interactions, and have allowed us to create a ‘cognitive’or ‘cultural’niche and colonize almost every terrestrial ecosystem. Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) also have exceptionally large and anatomically sophisticated brains. Here, by evaluating a comprehensive database of brain size, social structures and cultural behaviours across cetacean species, we ask whether cetacean brains are similarly associated with a marine cultural niche. We show that cetacean encephalization is predicted by both social structure and by a quadratic relationship with group size. Moreover, brain size predicts the breadth of social and cultural behaviours, as well as ecological factors …
学术搜索中的文章
KCR Fox, M Muthukrishna, S Shultz - Nature ecology & evolution, 2017
The social and cultural roots of whale and dolphin brains. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1, 1699-1705*
KCR Fox, M Muthukrishna, S Shultz - 2017
KCR Fox, M Muthukrishna, S Shultz - NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 2018