"Heuer et al. then set out to find which computational model of evolution was able to recreate the anatomies of the cerebellums found in the different mammalian species. They found that a stabilising model – that is, when animals that are straying away from their common ancestor randomly evolve back to these initial properties – worked best. Using this model, Heuer et al. estimated that the organism most mammals descended from probably had a cerebellum similar to the one found in an animal known as the rock hyrax (Figure 1B)."