An international team of researchers, including behavioral scientists, paleontologists and neurologists, has found that tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) dinosaurs were not as intelligent as they were thought to be and behaved like crocodiles and lizards.
Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Southampton in the UK, Heinrich-Heine University in Germany, the University of Alberta in Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum examined techniques used to estimate dinosaur brain size and neuron count.
An international research panel has found that previous estimates of dinosaur brain size and neuron numbers are unreliable.
The researchers concluded that the forebrain size of dinosaurs was overestimated, the number of neurons was exaggerated and they behaved like crocodiles and lizards.
Emphasizing that neuron count estimates are not reliable guides to intelligence, the researchers said that reliable reconstruction of the biology of extinct species requires looking at a wealth of evidence, including skeletal anatomy, bone tissue, the behavior of living relatives and the tracks of fossils.
Information about the brains of dinosaurs can be learned from the shape and shape of mineral cavities called "endocasts".
USING NEURON COUNTS TO ESTIMATE THE INTELLIGENCE OF DINOSAURS IS MISLEADING
Hady George of the University of Bristol said the best way to describe the intelligence of dinosaurs and other extinct animals is to use multiple lines of evidence, from macroscopic anatomy to fossil traces, rather than relying on neuron count estimates alone.
Dr. Ornella Bertrand from the University of Edinburgh pointed out that neuron counts are not accurate predictors of cognitive performance, and that using them to estimate the intelligence of extinct animals leads to highly misleading interpretations.
According to research conducted last year, it was suggested that T-rex dinosaurs with high neuron counts were more intelligent than previously thought.
