T-Rex, an annihilating but not intelligent specimen

Tyrannosaurus rexa predator from the dinosaur world about 13 meters long and 4 meters high was considered, according to a study published in Anatomical Recordone very unintelligent annihilator when compared to primates or even other animals of their species.

At the beginning of last year, an article published in Journal of Comparative Neurologyclaimed that the dinosaur’s brain weighed a third of a kilogram and contained 3.3 billion cortical neurons.

These values ​​are equivalent to the brain of a baboon primate, which makes the T-Rex a much more intelligent animal than previously thoughtcapable of solving simple problems, using tools and even developing some type of culture to transmit from parents to children.

A new theory

However, an international team of paleontologists, behavioral scientists and neurologists re-examined the size and structure of dinosaur brains and came to the conclusion that they weren’t all that intelligent and that they behaved in the same way as other reptiles, such as crocodiles and lizards.

This one study takes a closer look at the techniques used to predict the size, anatomy and number of neurons in dinosaur brainsconcluding that previous assumptions about the size of dinosaur brains and the number of neurons they contained were unreliable.

Inside the dinosaur brain

Previously, studies focused on mineral fillings of the brain cavity, called endocastrumsas well as the shapes of the cavities themselves.

Currently, the team from the University of Bristol has just discovered that the size of the brain, and therefore the number of neurons, had been overestimated.

To reliably reconstruct the biology of long-extinct species, the team argues that investigators cannot ignore the many other pieces of evidence, such as gross skeletal anatomy, bone histology, the behavior of living relatives and fossil remains, including footprints.

In the opinion of Dr. Darren Naish The possibility of the T-Rex being as intelligent as a baboon is fascinating is terrifying, and has the potential to reinvent our view of the past.

However, despite everything, the capabilities of king of lizards continue to fascinate researchers even 65 million years after their disappearance.