Published on August 5, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, a new study led by University of Lethbridge researchers reveals that the dodo possessed a brain entirely normal for its body size, dismantling myths of avian stupidity. Utilizing CT scans of three rare skulls, scientists reconstructed digital endocasts.
Rewriting Avian Neurology Through CT Scans
For centuries, the dodo has served as shorthand for clueless extinction. Sailors in the late 17th century wrote accounts claiming the flightless bird was sluggish and easy to catch. Those early impressions, however, were never backed by data. A team of researchers decided to test the myth using modern digital imaging rather than relying on maritime anecdotes.
Led from the University of Lethbridge in Canada, the research group utilized computed tomography data from three dodo skulls. They digitally reconstructed the endocasts—the internal cavities where the brain once sat. Because bird brains sit tightly against the bone wall, the shape of this cavity provides a map of relative brain structure sizes. Historically, generating these molds required pouring plaster or latex into fragile specimens, risking irreversible damage to museum artifacts. Today, non-invasive CT scanning lets researchers probe extinct anatomy without touching the physical bone.
Inside the Rare Skulls of Natural History Museums
There are only two complete dodoskalls on Earth. One resides at the Natural History Museum Denmark in Copenhagen; the other is housed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The research team analyzed both specimens, supplementing them with a third, less complete but well-preserved skull from the Natural History Museum in London.
“The dodo is one of the world’s most recognizable extinct animals, and yet we know surprisingly little about how it actually lived,” explains Peter Andrew Hosner, associate professor and bird curator at the Natural History Museum Denmark. His colleague Christy Anna Hipsley notes that investigating extinct animals resembles detective work, relying entirely on bones to read behavior.
When the data was processed and compared against baseline scans from 36 living species of pigeons, the cognitive center of the dodo brain proved entirely standard. Andrew Iwaniuk of the University of Lethbridge points out that there are no holdepunkter for the dodo being less intelligent than its relatives. Its failure to flee from arriving humans stemmed from a lack of experience, not cognitive deficit.
Unusual Visual Hardware and Sensory Adaptations
While cognition aligned with expectations, the sensory architecture revealed unexpected anomalies. The optic lobes—the brain regions dedicated to processing visual input—measured more than 3.5 times smaller relative to the endocast size compared to the Nicobar pigeon, the dodo’s closest living relative.
According to Vera Weisbecker of Flinders University, the birds possessed slightly larger eyes paired with unusually small optic lobes. Large eyes combined with small optic lobes is something seen in owls, not diurnal pigeons. In the research group’s own dissemination, the conclusion is that the dodo might be a nocturnal pigeon. In the article itself, the wording is more cautious, and concerns that activity may have extended into the twilight.
The rodriguessolitary had normal optic lobes. The finding applies to the dodo specifically.
Olfactory Puzzles and Trigeminal Nerves
One dodo specimen had clearly enlarged olfactory bulbs, measured to 3.44 percent of the endocast. The other had 1.36 percent, which is only marginally enlarged. Researchers describe the result as inconclusive.
Harder is the beak. The ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve was enlarged, while the other two branches were not. This fits with a large upper beak that the bird felt its way with. None of the parts can be determined with certainty. There is no brain tissue from a dodo, only the cavity where the brain lay, and researchers state explicitly that sensory functions can never be confirmed without tissue.
