T-Rex Dinosaurs Were Only As Smart As Modern-day Reptiles, Reveals New Study

In several movies and television shows, we see that T-rex dinosaurs were clever and smart, compared to other animals. According to some films, these dinosaurs were even smarter than humans. Though some scientists have earlier confirmed the theory to be true, a new study now reveals that the fact we believed till date was false. Researchers claimed in a new study that the T-rex dinosaurs were as smart as today’s crocodiles and lizards. A team of researchers from several universities reexamined the size and structure of the creature’s brain. The study revealed that the dinosaurs behaved like modern-day’s reptiles and lizards.

A 2023 study earlier claimed that dinosaurs like T-rex had an unusually large number of neurons. Differing from last year’s study, a new study by Darren Naish from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton and his team revealed that the dinosaurs were as smart as today’s giant crocodiles.

Hady George from the University of Bristol mentioned that determining the intelligence of the T-rex dinosaurs and other extinct animals depends on several factors like brain size and structure of the fossil footprints.

The team of researchers found that the brain size of the creature was overestimated earlier, especially that of the forebrain. That led to the wrong calculation of neuron counts. Adding to it, the researchers revealed that the neuron count does not correctly determine the intelligence level. They mentioned that to reliably determine the biology of the extinct species, factors like skeletal anatomy, bone histology, the behaviour of living relatives, and trace fossils should be examined.

Dr Kai Caspar of Heinrich Heine University who also took part in the research stated that the reconstruction of neurons from endocasts cannot perfectly predict the intelligence level of the dinosaurs. This recent study has sparked various debates across the world of biological science.

Another researcher, who was also part of the study, Dr Ornella Bertrand mentioned that neuron counts are not a reliable source to predict cognitive performance. Using this can lead to highly misleading interpretations.