Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F21%3A10433596" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/21:10433596 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=4ExoATWebM" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=4ExoATWebM</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02019-y" target="_blank" >10.1038/s42003-021-02019-y</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds

Original language description

Recent studies indicate that yawning evolved as a brain cooling mechanism. Given that larger brains have greater thermolytic needs and brain temperature is determined in part by heat production from neuronal activity, it was hypothesized that animals with larger brains and more neurons would yawn longer to produce comparable cooling effects. To test this, we performed the largest study on yawning ever conducted, analyzing 1291 yawns from 101 species (55 mammals; 46 birds). Phylogenetically controlled analyses revealed robust positive correlations between yawn duration and (1) brain mass, (2) total neuron number, and (3) cortical/pallial neuron number in both mammals and birds, which cannot be attributed solely to allometric scaling rules. These relationships were similar across clades, though mammals exhibited considerably longer yawns than birds of comparable brain and body mass. These findings provide further evidence suggesting that yawning is a thermoregulatory adaptation that has been conserved across amniote evolution. Massen, Hartlieb, Martin et al. study the duration of yawns across mammals and birds to test the brain cooling hypothesis. Consistent with this hypothesis, their findings indicate that brain mass and neuron numbers influence yawn duration, and that mammals yawn longer than birds with similar brain and body masses.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA18-15020S" target="_blank" >GA18-15020S: Evolution of brain complexity and processing capacity in amphibians and reptiles: A quantitative approach to understanding tetrapod brain evolution</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Communications Biology [online]

ISSN

2399-3642

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

4

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

503

UT code for WoS article

000656256800001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85105462387