- Titre du projet
- Evolution of the brain in Pleistocene Asian Black bear and its comparison with recent bears
- Descriptif du projet
- The Asian black bear currently inhabits in southern and eastern Asia and This is currently extirpated from Europe, but during the Middle Pleistocene and the beginning of the Late Pleistocene its distribution was wider and reached until Southern Siberia, the Ural Mountains, Caucasus and western Europe. The fossil record is scarce in the number of sites, each of which has yielded only few remains. In consequence, the studies about the anatomy of the skull and jaw are not numerous, and are inexistent about the endocranium and brain.
The aim of this project is to characterize morphology of the brain within the Asian black bear, observe its evolution since the since the Middle and Upper Pleistocene and to compare it with other present-day current species. It also aims to characterise the brain morphology of the present-day species, which has not yet been accurately described. To carry out this study, 3D models will be obtained from the reconstruction of the endocranium. Traditional morphometry and geometric morphometry will be used to analyse changes in shape and their relationship with size.
This study aims to obtain the following innovative results:
- Characterisation of the brain morphology of current bear species.
- Better characterisation of the evolution of endocranial cavities in Asian black bears, using new shape analysis techniques. This study will be complemented by studies of the external morphology of the skull.
Travaux réalisés par la plateforme AST-RX
