Bird brain - an important body timeserving

Observations of American scientists have shown that survival in the harsh winter, some species of birds should be not only the presence of warm feathers, or the ability to fly to warmer climes, but also a powerful brain. On the example of black-capped gaichek that transforms a harsh time of year, they showed the location of the memory centers in the brain more and more dense than those of birds that live in a more gentle climate. This scientific observation was attended by Tim Roth of the University of Nevada at Reno and his colleagues. They set a goal to clarify the effect of severe winters in the hippocampus of birds - a part of the brain that is critical for the formation of memories. In an experiment comparing the volume of the hippocampus and the total number of neurons in it for Poecile atricapillus, living in Seattle ( Washington ), Grant ( Minnesota ), and Presque Aile (Maine).

As a result, scientists have found that the maximum size of the hippocampus observed in birds from Minnesota and Maine, which is much colder and the snow than in Washington, DC. That is, spatial memory is not an important feature for survival gaichek living in milder climates.