Dinosaurs ruled the Earth long before even our distant ancestors. However, despite previous studies suggesting that these prehistoric behemoths were dumb, recent studies have been mixed about T-Rex. So was the tyrannosaur smart or not?
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 Dinosaurs ruled the Earth long before even our distant ancestors.
00:07 However, despite previous studies suggesting that these prehistoric behemoths were, well, dumb,
00:12 especially the likes of T-Rex, a study in 2023 suggested the Tyrannosaurus may have been quite intelligent after all.
00:19 Tiny arms, but big brain.
00:21 That was the consensus just a year ago, with the researchers saying that T-Rex
00:25 may have even been as smart as modern-day primates.
00:27 However, a new study presents a renewed argument for the pea-brained hypothesis,
00:32 taking the Tyrannosaurus back to the Cretaceous.
00:34 According to the researchers, quote,
00:36 "The possibility that T-Rex might have been as intelligent as a baboon is fascinating and terrifying,
00:41 with the potential to reinvent our view of the past,
00:44 but our study shows how all the data we have is against this idea."
00:48 So what went wrong in 2023?
00:50 Well, the researchers say that the T-Rex brain size calculations weren't accurate,
00:54 wrongly inflating neuron numbers specifically in the forebrain.
00:57 That's because those researchers determined incorrectly
01:00 that its brain would have filled the entirety of the cranial space.
01:03 Other paleontological data points to that not being the case for most dinosaurs,
01:07 meaning it's likely also not the case for T-Rex.
01:09 Even still, the researchers say that neuron count and brain size
01:12 is not necessarily a good indicator of intelligence in the first place,
01:16 saying the Tyrannosaurus was more akin in intelligence to a smart giant crocodile,
01:21 rather than a primate.
01:22 [music]