How intelligent were the dinosaurs?

Question

We know that they could roam about, and act as predators. But do we have any idea or evidence for how intelligent they were? (perhaps such evidence would be impossible to attain?).

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Answer 1

Noone knows how intelligent the dinosaurs were. They did have very small brains compared with their body sizes and many have concluded this means they were stupid. We do not know how well programmed these brains may have been. It is very possible that most of the modern-like behavior we see in the fossil record (such as can be seen with rocks and bone) could well have been finely tuned instincts as opposed to actual learning. Some define intelligence as the ability to learn and by this definition they may not have been very bright but they may have been eminently capable in their own environment.

Answer 2

Some of them were very clever. One or two could even do the Times crossword in under ten minutes. Others on the other hand were a little naughty. They used to sit around all day smoking spliff after spliff listening to Bob Marley tunes and fighting over  donner kebabs.

Answer 3

there brains where really very small in proportion to there size hence they where not very intelligent

Answer 4

They were usually not very intelligent.

But usually it was like this : The Smaller The Smarter,The Bigger The Dumber.

Most of the big dinosaurs were very very dumb.

But smaller ones usually twice as intelligent as big ones

Well to be honest some Big dinosaurs were dumber than dogs now.

Answer 5

Intelligence is surprisingly difficult to gauge from fossils.  This is because intelligence is based on more than just brain size - it has as much to do with how the brain is organized or "wired."

Some non-avian dinosaurs (birds are dinosaurs for precisely the same reason we are mammals), especially the more advanced theropods, had brain  sizes that overlap the size range for some groups of birds at the same size.  Others appear to have much smaller brains, BUT (a) they're actually the size we would predict for a lizard or crocodile of similar size and (b) they have relatively larger forebrains.

Thus, intelligence levels probably varied quite a bit.  Some were perhaps slightly more intelligent than a crocodile (and crocodiles are surprisingly intelligent!), and others were perhaps as smart as some birds.  Most would not have reached parrot or crow levels of intelligence.

Believe it or not, the earliest birds (animals like Archaeopteryx and the enantiornithines) had brains that were intermediate in size and organization between those of some birds and those of dromaeosaurids (the "raptors" from Jurassic Park) - so there isn't a clear-cut break between "reptile" and "bird" when it comes to brain anatomy and, in all likelihood, intelligence.

All a fancy way of saying "we really don't know."

Answer 6

They cut back on the space program to look for incoming meteors due the opinion that the space program was "A waste of money"

Answer 7

Hopson (1980) compared dinosaur brain sizes with those of living reptiles. He calculated the EQs assuming that dinosaurs are more like reptiles and that their brain, as in living reptiles, occupied only half of the brain case. Hopson used the brain size to body size relationship in living reptiles, E=0.005P0.66 and found that most dinosaurs were not as intelligent as the average crocodile. I recalculated the dinosaur EQs assuming that the brain occupied the entire brain case and found that only the sauropods Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus were less intelligent than the average crocodile.

I also compared the dinosaur EQs with those of birds. I assumed that dinosaurs were more similar to birds and that their brain would, like living birds, occupy the entire brain case. I used recent dinosaur body size estimates and the bird brain size to body size relationship, E=0.12P0.55 (Nealen and Ricklefs, 2001) to calculate the EQ. Using these assumptions, I found that the EQs of theropods such as Allosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and the coelurosaur Troodon were within the range of most ground birds such as the ostrich and the emu. Ornithopods were within and just below the ground bird intelligence range. Ankylosaurs, stegosaurs and ceratopsians all fall below the ground bird range and the sauropods remain the least intelligent.

Because it is now accepted that birds are the closest relatives to dinosaurs, it is reasonable to believe that dinosaur intelligence should be modeled on that of birds rather than reptiles. Theropods, which are believed to be the closest dinosaur group to birds, and some ornithopods, have at least the same intelligence as an ostrich. Dinosaurs were not nearly as intellectually challenged as once thought.

http://www.geo.arizona.edu/~rwright/abs2...

Answer 8

They were smart enough to live on the earth longer than humans have. It took a meteor to kill them, but humans will probably achieve extinction on there own.