Data files and R code supporting 'The land-to-water transition impacts brain shape in caniform carnivorans' (Kirkwood et al., 2026)

This archive contains all data, metadata, and R scripts supporting <i>“The land-to-water transition impacts brain shape in caniform carnivorans”</i> (Kirkwood et al., 2025). This study investigates endocranial shape in caniform (“dog-like”) carnivorans in relation to phylogeny, allometry, and locomotor habitat, to evaluate their relative importance in shaping the mammalian brain. Using high-density 3D geometric morphometrics, principal component analyses, and phylogenetic comparative methods, we examine 100 virtual endocasts representing 73 caniform taxa, including all nine extant families. Our findings indicate that the land-to-water transition has a significant impact on brain shape across caniforms, whereby semiaquatic taxa tend to exhibit expanded cerebra alongside reduced paleocortices and olfactory bulbs.