http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...180961878/
EXCERPT: [...] As thylacine sightings grew rarer, authorities began to consider protecting the species. In July 1936, the Tasmanian government declared the thylacine a protected species, but it was too late: Two months later, the species went extinct.
Like many others, Berns was drawn to the thylacine and its strangely dog-like features. To get a peek into its mind, he first tracked down a thylacine brain preserved in formaldehyde at the Smithsonian Institution. [...] Berns used MRI scans and a relatively new technique called diffusion tensor imaging, which maps the brain's areas of "white matter"—the tissue that carries nerve signals to and from neurons in different parts of the brain. For comparison, he did the same scans on two preserved brains of Tasmanian devils, the closest living relative of the thylacine.
Compared to its devil cousins, Berns says, the thylacine had a larger and more complex-looking frontal lobe. This would allow the animals a grasp of complex planning, which would be necessary for an apex predator that must constantly hunt for its food. [...] "When the thylacines were alive they were dismissed as stupid animals," Berns says. "[These results] would suggest otherwise...."
EXCERPT: [...] As thylacine sightings grew rarer, authorities began to consider protecting the species. In July 1936, the Tasmanian government declared the thylacine a protected species, but it was too late: Two months later, the species went extinct.
Like many others, Berns was drawn to the thylacine and its strangely dog-like features. To get a peek into its mind, he first tracked down a thylacine brain preserved in formaldehyde at the Smithsonian Institution. [...] Berns used MRI scans and a relatively new technique called diffusion tensor imaging, which maps the brain's areas of "white matter"—the tissue that carries nerve signals to and from neurons in different parts of the brain. For comparison, he did the same scans on two preserved brains of Tasmanian devils, the closest living relative of the thylacine.
Compared to its devil cousins, Berns says, the thylacine had a larger and more complex-looking frontal lobe. This would allow the animals a grasp of complex planning, which would be necessary for an apex predator that must constantly hunt for its food. [...] "When the thylacines were alive they were dismissed as stupid animals," Berns says. "[These results] would suggest otherwise...."