Table 1.

Data set used in main analysis

Species	CFF	Mg	qWg	Brain mass	Light levels
Ambystoma tigrinum	30e,s,1	10.7828	0.0001628	NA	L
Anguilla anguilla	14b,s,2	71.128	0.0001328	NA	L
Anolis cristatellus	70e,o,3	6.029	0.0008929	NA	H
Asio flammeus	70e,o,4	406.030	0.003228	5.4569	H
Bubo virginianus	45e,s,5	1450.031	0.003628	13.770	L
Canis lupus familiaris	80b,s,6	13900.032	0.0018328	80.071	H
Carassius auratus	67.2e,o,7	10.833	0.0001328	0.0171	H
Carcharhinus acronotus	18e,o,8	14491.08	0.0011456∗	NA	L
Caretta caretta	40e,s,9	135000.034	0.0000857	2.740	H
Cavia porcellus	50e,s,10	629.035	0.0030635	3.872	L
Chelonia mydas	40e,s,9	128000.036	0.0002536	8.671	H
Columba livia	100e,s,4	315.037	0.004528	2.370	H
Dermochelys coriacea	15e,s,11	354000.038	0.0004358	30.073	H
Felis catus	55e,s,12	3054.432	0.0039459	28.471	L
Gallus gallus domesticus	87b,o,13	2710.039	0.002228	3.674	H
Gekko gecko	20e,s,14	54.840	0.0003428	0.275	L
Homo sapiens	60b,o,15	67100.041	0.0011760	1300.076	H
Iguana iguana	80e,s,14	750.042	0.0002928	0.6175	H
Macaca mulatta	95b,o,16	7710.043	0.0020561	91.771	H
Melopsittacus undulatus	74.7b,s,17	33.628	0.0120428	1.570	H
Negaprion brevirostris	37e,s,18	92987.044	0.0005362∗	NA	L
Oncorhynchus mykiss	27b,s,19	4000.045	0.0004128	0.571	L
Oryzias latipes	37.2e,s,20	0.2120	0.0007228	0.0177	L
Pagophilus groenlandicus	32.7b,s,12	119600.046	0.0021163	228.578	L
Raja erinacea	30e,o,22	500.047	0.0002447	2.3271	L
Rattus norvegicus	39e,o,23	237.048	0.0067948	2.379	L
Spermophilus lateralis	120e,o,10	215.549	0.0033564	3.680	H
Sphenodon punctatus	45.6b,s,24	353.7550	0.0001728	NA	L
Sphyrna lewini	27.3e,o,8	1893.08, 51	0.001065∗	60.077	L
Sturnus vulgaris	100e,s,25	75.028	0.01228	1.974	H
Tamias amoenus	100e,o,10	51.9152	0.0093766	1.9880	H
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus	60e,o,10	21535	0.0073567	4.080	H
Thunnus albacares	80e,s,26	45349.053, 54	0.0015868∗	6.2477	H
Tupaia glis	90b,o,27	142.055	0.0042455	3.479	H

CFF = critical flicker fusion; Mg = body mass (g); qWg = temperature-corrected (25 °C) mass-specific resting metabolic rate (W/g); light levels: H = high, L = low; NA = no data available for species. Superscript indicates type of measurement: e = electroretinogram; b = behavioural experiments; o = optimum methodology; s = suboptimum methodology; numbers refer to data sources: (1) Crevier & Meister (1998); (2) Adrian & Matthews (1926); (3) Fleishman et al. (1995); (4) Bornshein & Tansley (1961); (5) Ault & House (1987); (6) Coile et al. (1989); (7) Hanyu & Ali (1963); (8) McComb et al. (2010); (9) Levenson et al. (2004); (10) Tansley et al. (1961); (11) Eckert et al. (2006); (12) Loop & Berkeley (1975); (13) Lisney et al. (2011); (14) Meneghini & Hamasaki (1967); (15) Brundrett (1974); (16) Shumake et al. (1968); (17) Ginsburg & Nilsson (1971); (18) Gruber (1969); (19) Carvalho et al. (2004); (20) Carvalho et al. (2002); (21) Bernholz & Matthews (1975); (22) Green & Siegel (1975); (23) Williams et al. (1985); (24) Woo et al. (2009); (25) Greenwood et al. (2004); (26) Southwood et al. (2008); (27) Callahan & Petry (1999); (28) Makarieva et al. (2008); (29) Rogowitz (1996); (30) Graber (1962); (31) Ganey et al. (1993); (32) Kendall et al. (1982); (33) Hughes (1977); (34) Duermit (2007); (35) Arends & McNab (2001); (36) Jackson & Prange (1979); (37) Terres (1980); (38) Georges & Fossette (2006); (39) Winchester (1940); (40) Hurlburt (1996); (41) Holloway (1980); (42) Howland et al. (2004); (43) Schwartz & Kemnitz (1992); (44) Allyn (1947); (45) Ridolfi (2006); (46) Stewart & Lavigne (1984); (47) Hove & Moss (1997); (48) Hart (1971); (49) McKeever (1964); (50) Herrel et al. (2010); (51) Letourneur et al. (1998); (52) Sheppard (1968); (53) Collette & Nauen (1983); (54) Duarte-Neto & Lessa (2004); (55) Bradley & Hudson (2003); (56) Carlson et al. (1999); (57) Lutz et al. (1989); (58) Paladino et al. (1996); (59) Eisenberg (1981); (60) Elgar & Harvey (1987); (61) Bruhn (1934); (62) Bushnell et al. (1989); (63) McNab (1986); (64) Hudson et al. (1972); (65) Lowe (2001); (66) Jones & Wang (1976); (67) Pauls (1981); (68) Dewar & Graham (1994); (69) Garamszegi et al. (2002); (70) Iwaniuk & Nelson (2002); (71) Crile & Quiring (1940); (72) Herculano-Houzel et al. (2006); (73) Davenport et al. (2009); (74) Burton (2008); (75) Platel (1979); (76) Aiello & Wheeler (1995); (77) Froese & Pauly (2012); (78) Walløe et al. (2010); (79) Navarret et al. (2011); (80) Meier (1983).

^∗Indicates species with qWg estimated from swimming speeds extrapolated to zero (see Methods).