In the neuroanatomy of animals, an avian pallium is the dorsal telencephalon of a bird's brain. The subpallium is the ventral telencephalon.
The pallium of avian species tends to be relatively large, comprising ~75% of the telencephalic volume. Evidence suggests the avian pallium's neuroarchitecture to be reminiscent of the mammalian cerebral cortex. [1] The avian pallium has also been suggested to be an equivalent neural basis for consciousness. [2] [3] Birds also have a unique pallial structure known as the hyperpallium, once called the hyperstriatum.
A 2002 conference at Duke University (Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium) established a standard nomenclature for describing the avian pallium as follows: [4] [5] [6] [7]