Re: Dinosaur intelligence

["Jordan Mallon" <j_mallon@hotmail.com>]

> From: Jan Grönvik <jan.gronvik@telia.com>

> What do the scientists mean when they say that one animal species is >more 
> intelligent than another? The brain mass compared to the body mass >seems 
> to be important in those theories.

> From what I hear, animal intelligence has little to do with 
brain-to-body-mass EQs, and more to do with the density of neurons in the 
brain.
Dinosaur braincases, as I understand, are about all we have to look at in 
terms of getting an idea as to what the brain of a given species might have 
looked like.  People generally tend to think that the bigger the brain in 
relation to body mass, the smarter the animal.  But this does not 
necessarily hold true.
Take a supposedly smart dinosaur like _Troodon_, for example.  It has a 
large brain in relation to its body, but I hear its optic lobes are huge!  
So although the animal might very well have had an excellent sense of 
vision, it did not necessarily have the capabiltiy of 'higher cognitive 
thinking' (whatever than means).
Besides that, it is also hard to get an accurate size estimate of the brain 
itself, and the braincase was filled with protective fluid in life, and as 
such, the brain would not have filled the entire braincase.

Just some thoughts.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not overly 
knowledgeable in this topic.

-Jordan Mallon

http://www.geocities.com/paleoportfolio/
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.