Köhler Meike, Moyà-Solà Salvador
Institut de Paleontologia M.C., Sabadell, Spain.
Brain Behav Evol. 2004;63(3):125-40. doi: 10.1159/000076239. Epub 2004 Jan 15.
Our study of the fossil rupicaprine bovid Myotragus [Bate, 1909] from the Mediterranean island Majorca (Spain) provides evidence that this animal underwent significant changes (reduction) in the relative size of brain and sense organs after geographic isolation at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (Miocene-Pliocene boundary, 5.2 Mya). The changes in the central nervous system of Myotragus parallel the pattern reported for domesticated animals, in which decrease in relative brain size is accompanied by a decrease in the relative size of their sense organs. We interpret the important size reduction of brain and sense organs in Myotragus as an adaptive strategy for more efficient energy use under the special environmental conditions of the insular ecosystem, characterized by absence of predation and limitation of trophic resources.
我们对来自地中海岛屿马略卡岛（西班牙）的化石山羊亚科牛科动物Myotragus [贝特，1909年]的研究提供了证据，表明这种动物在梅西尼盐度危机末期（中新世-上新世边界，520万年前）地理隔离后，大脑和感觉器官的相对大小发生了显著变化（缩小）。Myotragus中枢神经系统的变化与家畜所报告的模式相似，在家畜中，相对脑容量的减少伴随着感觉器官相对大小的减小。我们将Myotragus大脑和感觉器官的重要尺寸减小解释为一种适应策略，以便在以没有捕食和营养资源有限为特征的岛屿生态系统特殊环境条件下更有效地利用能量。
