Palaeontologists have pieced together the brain structure of a bird that lived 80 million years ago named Navaornis hestiae, thanks to a remarkably well-preserved fossil

Birds descended from the dinosaurs, but researchers have known relatively little about how the bird's brain took shape over millions of years. A new fossil sheds light on that mystery.

The brains of today's birds facilitate a level of cognitive prowess and behavioral complexity rivaled only by mammals. But how the avian brain evolved over many millions of years from an ancestral dinosaurian form has long puzzled scientists.

The “one-of-a-kind” fossil of Navaornis hestiae helps fill a giant gap in scientists’ understanding of how bird brains evolved.

A ‘one of a kind’ fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate evolution.

The fossil bird, which has been named Navaornis hestiae, lived approximately 80 million years ago in what is now Brazil, before the mass extinction event that killed all non-avian dinosaurs. It was discovered by palaeontologist William Nava, for whom the species is now named after.

Interestingly, this fossil fills a 70-million-year-long gap in our knowledge between the early bird-like dinosaurs (Archaeopteryx) and modern birds.

Navaornis is likened to a sort of Rosetta Stone for decyphering the evolution of bird brains.