Dinosaurs ruled the earth long before even our distant ancestors.
However, despite previous studies suggesting that these prehistoric behemoths were,
well, dumb, especially the likes of T Rex,
a study in 2023 suggested the Tyrannosaurus may have been
quite intelligent after all.
Tiny arms but big brained.
That was the consensus just a year ago,
with the researchers saying that T Rex may have even
been as smart as modern day primates.
However, a new study presents a renewed argument for the
P brain hypothesis.
Taking the Tyrannosaurus back to the Cretaceous,
According to the researchers quote the possibility that T Rex
might have been as intelligent as a baboon is fascinating
and terrifying,
with the potential to reinvent our view of the past.
But our study shows how all the data we have
is against this idea.
So what went wrong in 2023?
Well, the researchers say that the T Rex brain size
calculations weren't accurate,
wrongly inflating neuron numbers specifically in the forebrain.
That's because those researchers determined,
incorrectly, that its brain would have filled the entirety of
the cranial space.
Other paleontological data points to that not being the case
for most dinosaurs,
meaning it's likely also not the case for T Rex.
Even still, the researchers say that neuron count and brain
size is not necessarily a good indicator of intelligence in
the 1st place,
saying the Tyrannosaurus was Moroccan and intelligence to a smart
giant crocodile rather than a primate.