FLIGHTLESS equals bird-brained, right? Not any more. Earthbound birds have brains just as large as their flying cousins, suggesting that they may not be as dim-witted as once thought.
Many modern birds have lost the ability to fly, including penguins, kiwis, emus and ostriches. And many species that are now extinct, such as the great auk, dodo and Madagascan elephant bird, were also unable to take to the sky. But previous studies had concluded that flightless birds had relatively small brains compared with flyers.
Now a team from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and Monash University…
