MSGID: 1:317/3 646c416f   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Dinosaurs were the first to take the perspectives of others    
      
     Date:   
         May 22, 2023   
     Source:   
         Lund University   
     Summary:   
         Understanding that others hold different viewpoints from your   
         own is essential for human sociality. Adopting another person's   
         visual perspective is a complex skill that emerges around the   
         age of two. A new study suggests that this ability first arose   
         in dinosaurs, at least 60 million years before it appeared in   
         mammals. These findings challenge the idea that mammals were the   
         originators of novel and superior forms of intelligence in the   
         wake of the dinosaur extinction.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   When someone near you turns their head towards something in the   
   environment, you likely can't help to follow their gaze direction. This   
   reaction is observed in mammals, birds and even reptiles alike. It's   
   an effective way to gather information about what caught the attention   
   of your fellow, which you might otherwise have missed. However, a far   
   more advanced behavior is to follow someone's gaze to a location that is   
   initially obstructed from your view. By repositioning yourself to see   
   what the other person is looking at, you demonstrate an understanding   
   that the other has a different perspective. This ability, known as   
   visual perspective taking develops in children between the ages of   
   one-and-a-half to two years and serves as the foundation for later   
   comprehending referential communication and that others have minds that   
   differ from your own.   
      
   Visual perspective taking has, to date, only been found in very few   
   species.   
      
   Mainly in apes and some monkeys, but also in dogs and crow birds. However,   
   there is limited knowledge regarding the evolutionary origins of   
   this crucial social skill. A team of researchers from Lund University   
   aimed to investigate a potential early emergence of visual perspective   
   taking in dinosaurs. Through a comparison of alligators with the most   
   primitive existing birds, known as palaeognaths, they discovered that   
   visual perspective taking originated in the dinosaur lineage likely 60   
   million years, or more, prior to its appearance in mammals.   
      
   Crocodilians are the closest living relatives to birds. Their   
   neuroanatomy has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of millions   
   of years, and is similar to that of the common ancestor of dinosaurs   
   and crocodilians. Palaeognath birds comprise the ostrich birds, such as   
   emus and rheas, but also the flighted tinamous. Their brains are in large   
   parts comparable to their forebearers, the non- avian paravian dinosaurs,   
   which feature such celebrities as the velociraptors. Comparing these   
   two groups of animals creates a bracket around the extinct lineage of   
   dinosaurs leading up to modern birds.   
      
   The study revealed that alligators do not demonstrate visual perspective   
   taking, although they do follow gaze to a visible location. In contrast,   
   all tested bird species exhibited visual perspective taking. Additionally,   
   the birds engaged in a behaviour called "checking back," where the   
   observer looks back into the eyes of the gazer, and re-tracks the gaze,   
   when unable to find anything in the direction of their gaze the first   
   time. This behaviour indicates an expectation that the gaze is referring   
   to a target in the environment. Previously, this has only been observed   
   in humans, apes and monkeys, and ravens.   
      
   Palaeognath birds emerged 110 million years ago, predating the two mammal   
   groups endowed with visual perspective taking -- primates and dogs --   
   with 60 million years. Considering the neuroanatomical similarities   
   between these birds and their non-avian forebearers, it is plausible   
   that the skill originated even earlier in the dinosaur lineage. However,   
   it is less likely to have been present among the earliest dinosaurs,   
   which had more alligator-like brains.   
      
   Maybe future research will show the ability to be more widespread among   
   mammals than currently known, but even if that would be the case it will   
   most probably still be predated by the dinosaur origin. Nevertheless, it   
   is not surprising that visual perspective taking emerged earlier in the   
   dinosaurs, which include the birds, given their superior vision compared   
   to most mammals, that historically relied on nocturnal adaptations. It   
   was only with the emergence of the primates and certain carnivores that   
   our visual capabilities improved.   
      
   This is yet another finding that calls into question the prevailing view   
   that mammals drove the evolution of complex cognition, and that they are   
   the cognitive yardstick to which other animals should be compared. An   
   increasing number of studies show the remarkable neurocognition of   
   the avian dinosaurs, the birds, which might prompt a rethinking of the   
   natural history of cognition.   
      
   Comments from the authors: Senior author, prof. Mathias Osvath:   
   "Early in my career, crow birds earned the nickname "feathered apes,"   
   due to numerous research findings that showcased their remarkable   
   cognition. However, I'm beginning to question whether it would be more   
   fitting to consider primates as honorary birds."  First author (then   
   PhD-student), Dr Claudia Zeitra"g: "Birds are commonly being overlooked   
   when it comes to their cognitive skills. Our findings show that they   
   do not only have several cognitive skills on par with those of apes,   
   but that their forebearers most likely had these skills long before they   
   evolved in mammals."  Middle author, Dr Stephan Reber: "Crocodilians are   
   ideal models to study the evolutionary origins of cognitive capacities   
   in birds. What they share most probably existed in the common ancestor of   
   dinosaurs and crocodilians. If crocodilians lack an ability birds possess,   
   it likely evolved in the dinosaur lineage after the split. This approach   
   allows us to study the cognition of extinct species."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Birds # Animal_Learning_and_Intelligence # Nature #   
                   Bird_Flu_Research   
             o Fossils_&_Ruins   
                   # Early_Birds # Dinosaurs # Early_Mammals # Paleontology   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Dinosaur o Visual_acuity o Ichthyosaur o Parallel_evolution   
             o The_evolution_of_human_intelligence o Feathered_dinosaurs   
             o Bird_intelligence o Gray_Whale   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Lund_University. Note: Content may   
   be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Claudia Zeitra"g, Stephan A. Reber, Mathias Osvath. Gaze following   
      in   
         Archosauria--Alligators and palaeognath birds suggest dinosaur   
         origin of visual perspective taking. Science Advances, 2023; 9   
         (20) DOI: 10.1126/ sciadv.adf0405   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230522131341.htm   
      
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