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Dinosaurs May Have Been Smarter Than We Thought!


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2023 Jan 16, 4:55am   511 views  11 comments

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#dinosaurbraincapaccity DISCOVERIES
An Intricate Mind
For years, scientists thought that dinosaurs were big but not brainy.

But now, some researchers believe that some dinosaur brains were so complex and densely packed with neurons that they nearly resembled the noggins of modern primates, according to a new but controversial study.

Neuroanatomist Suzana Herculano-Houzel and her colleagues have even proposed that certain members of the extinct species were smart enough to use tools or form groups, the Washington Post reported.

For their paper, they sought to measure the density of neurons in the dinos’ cortex – the wrinkly area of the outer brain critical to most intelligence-related tasks.

Because dinosaur brains are difficult to get, the team analyzed the brain cases of some of the species – including Tyrannosaurus rex – and compared them with a massive database of bird and reptile brain masses.

They then devised an equation that correlated an animal’s brain mass with the approximate amount of neurons in the cerebrum, which comprises the cortex.

Their findings showed that the brains of theropod dinosaurs – which include T. rexes and velociraptors – nearly follow the same rules as warm-blooded modern birds. Meanwhile, the brains of sauropod dinosaurs, such as gigantic Brachiosaurus, resemble those of modern cold-blooded animals, according to Science magazine.

For example, Herculano-Houzel observed that the T. rex brain had as many as three billion neurons – comparable to a baboon’s brain. Another theropod, the deadly Alioramus, meanwhile, had more than one billion, similar to a capuchin monkey.

“I have a whole newfound respect for T. rex,” Herculano-Houzel told Science. “Something that big with those teeth that had the cognitive capacity, numberwise, of a baboon … that is legit scary.”

While some researchers and paleontologists praised the study for shedding some light on dinosaur smarts, others were careful in suggesting that the extinct creatures were intelligent enough to use tools.

Comments 1 - 11 of 11        Search these comments

1   clambo   2023 Jan 16, 7:50am  

Aren't ravens smart today?
2   richwicks   2023 Jan 16, 8:13am  

clambo says

Aren't ravens smart today?


Yep.

I don't have much faith in somebody measuring intelligence based on brain size. Crows are very smart. Wolves are quite a bit more intelligent than a dog, and they're practically the same species.
3   Tenpoundbass   2023 Jan 16, 9:16am  

It amazes me when people equate animals basic instincts to survive as intelligence. Instincts and Senses are not intelligence.
4   Ceffer   2023 Jan 16, 10:22am  

T Rex discovered relativity. Everybody knows that. Einstein was an imposter.
5   Tenpoundbass   2023 Jan 16, 10:49am  

I think T-Rex had a sticky retractable tongue, hence the short forearms. Look at frog's forearms, they are short and don't really extend beyond their mouth. Even they primarily use their front legs with their wonky crooked fingers, to turn prey in their mouth, and push it down their throat, or prevent the prey from backing out. Probably most non avian dinosaurs had a sticky tongue.
6   Patrick   2023 Jan 16, 1:58pm  

I've long suspected that some dinosaurs had pretty advanced technology. Some fossilized machine will be discovered.

I base this on how long they were around, much longer than people have been.
7   Tenpoundbass   2023 Jan 16, 2:28pm  

Patrick says

I base this on how long they were around, much longer than people have been.

I think our understanding of what was around when, and for how long is biased based on a few researchers with all of that grant money and nothing to show for it, but a few incomplete fossils, or only a few bone fragments. There's lots of animals now known to science, only from one small bone fragment. No other examples found, and no more to identify and illustrate that species, based on nothing more than a 1/4 of a jaw bone or something. I think the terrain where fossilized Dinosaurs or other animals were found, just wasn't conducive to other mammal species. Fossils are had to make, so any mammals, primates or hominids that may have been around earlier than we think. May have been on higher ground where they didn't get covered by sediment or flood waters. We understand geological times based on layers on Earth, that sometimes are only exposed in three or four locations around the world. We're not even seeing a very miniscule cross section of the Terrain that would have been exposed at the time. We're finding animals that would have been on fault lines and river beds, those are the geological features, that are most likely to become exposed. While the rest of that era is still buried deep in Earth's crust in areas that never formed rock, never mineralized, and never fossilized.
8   Patrick   2023 Jan 16, 3:06pm  

Right, Darwin makes this point in The Origin of Species.

The places suitable for fossil formation are pretty rare. Needs to have sediment being deposited, and then needs to sink and solidify. Most places are not like that.
9   stereotomy   2023 Jan 16, 4:32pm  

Patrick says

I've long suspected that some dinosaurs had pretty advanced technology. Some fossilized machine will be discovered.

I base this on how long they were around, much longer than people have been.

For all we know, they left the earth for somewhere else in the universe a long time ago in order to leave it fallow for the next intelligent species to arise.
10   PeopleUnited   2023 Jan 16, 5:17pm  

“dinosaurs-may-have-been-smarter-than we thought!”

They voted for Trump?
11   just_passing_through   2023 Jan 16, 5:37pm  

I came here for pictures of cave women!?

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