Ancient cold-blooded goat had tiny brain and eyes

A slow-moving, cold-blooded goat once lived on the island of Majorca. "They also saved energy by having a brain half the size of hoofed mammals its own size, and its eyes were only a third of the size." (Via Bruce Sterling)

• [eliba]

  That is so NEAT.

• [Lilith_Snow]

  Leave. Cheyney. Alone!!

• [gabrielm]

  “the species inhabited the island for over five million years”
  and then the humans came along :(

  • [Santa’s Knee]

    “And then came Maude…”

• [scifijazznik]

  They must have been tasty.

• [MrJM]

  Humans: 1, Reptile Goats: 0

  USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

• [adamnvillani]

  Wow! Sounds kind of like koalas — I just found out last week that because of their low-energy diet, their brains have atrophied and their cranial cavity is 40% filled with cerebro-spinal fluid. As Wikipedia sez:

  the brain’s two cerebral hemispheres are like “a pair of shrivelled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain.”

• [Moriarty]

  I once had a boss like that.

• [dragonfrog]

  They also saved energy by having a brain half the size of hoofed mammals its own size, and its eyes were only a third of the size.

  Interestingly, many modern holiday-makers on Majorca have adopted the same energy saving strategy.

• [13tales]

  Friends, I propose that henceforth we refer to this marvellous creature as “Ol’ Squinty” or possibly “Ol’ Squinty-hooves”

• [Witteveen]

  I, for one, welcome our horned cold-blooded overlords!

  • [Santa’s Knee]

    You should have said that back in 1980…

    • [Witteveen]

      Touche, my observant denizen. You know we will have to kill you now, don’t you?

• [Anonymous]

  And they went extinct when humans arrived. We really are like a virus that destroys any life it encounters.