The brain of Archaeopteryx reconstructed from a CT scan. The
largest pair of lobes was the centre for flight control and
coordination. Archaeopteryx also has characters typical of birds
Recent research at the Natural History Museum using CT has
revealed that Archaeopteryx had a bird-like brain with large
areas that co-ordinated flight, balance and sight The same CT-
based research showed that the semi-circular canals in the inner
ear were just like those of modern birds. This provides further
evidence that Archaeopteryx had a sense of balance comparable to
modern birds. This CT-based reconstruction of the semicircular
canals showed that they were the same size and shape as in
modern birds. The blue lines show where parts of the bony canals
were missing in the fossil.