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Researchers analyzed brain surface folding patterns (sulci) in nine species of seals, sea lions, and walruses using MRI scans to understand how their brains changed during evolution from land to marine environments. While major brain folds were similar to land-based carnivores, pinnipeds showed distinctive modifications including complex pseudosylvian patterns and unique frontoparietal configurations that varied between the three pinniped families. These anatomical differences may reflect specialized adaptations for swimming, tactile sensing, and vocalization in aquatic environments.
Why it matters
This work establishes a standardized framework for comparing brain organization across all carnivores, enabling future research into how behavior and ecology shape brain evolution. Understanding these adaptations could inform conservation efforts and provide insights into how mammalian brains reorganize when adapting to dramatically different environments.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
The transition of pinnipeds from terrestrial ancestors into marine environments provides a unique opportunity to examine how cortical organisation has changed with adaptation to life in water. Here, we examined neocortical sulcal anatomy in nine species representing all three extant pinniped families using cortical surfaces reconstructed from post-mortem MRI. Building on a standardised framework previously established for land-dwelling (fissiped) carnivorans, we developed identification criteria for major pinniped sulci and compared their configurations with those observed across fissipeds. Major sulci were broadly conserved, but pinnipeds exhibited characteristic modifications, including a complex, highly branched pseudosylvian configuration and distinct frontoparietal sulcal patterns, with further family-level variation in both territories. This observed variation in sulcal patterns may reflect pronounced differences in locomotor, tactile, and vocal specialisations, generating hypotheses about how cortical organisation may vary with adaptation to marine environments. Together, these findings establish a common anatomical framework across Carnivora for investigating how cortical organisation diversified in relation to behaviour and ecology.
Source: A comparative framework for neocortical sulcal anatomy in pinnipeds