Data from: Reconstruction of the cortical maps of the Tasmanian tiger and comparison to the Tasmanian devil

The last known Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)–aka the
thylacine–died in 1936. Because its natural behavior was never
scientifically documented, we are left to infer aspects of its behavior
from museum specimens and historical recollections of bushmen. Recent
advances in brain imaging have made it possible to scan postmortem
specimens of a wide range of animals, even more than a decade old. Any
thylacine brain, however, would be more than 100 years old. Here, we show
that it is possible to reconstruct white matter tracts in two thylacine
brains. For functional interpretation, we compare to the white matter
reconstructions of the brains of two Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus
harrisii). We reconstructed the cortical projection zones of the basal
ganglia and major thalamic nuclei. The basal ganglia reconstruction showed
a more modularized pattern in the cortex of the thylacine, while the devil
cortex was dominated by the putamen. Similarly, the thalamic projections
had a more orderly topography in the thylacine than the devil. These
results are consistent with theories of brain evolution suggesting that
larger brains are more modularized. Functionally, the thylacine’s brain
may have had relatively more cortex devoted to planning and
decision-making, which would be consistent with a predatory ecological
niche versus the scavenging niche of the devil.