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The whole case is more bulky than the Alligator, the vast amount of shapes are distinct, and the yellow, red, and pinkish bits line up more with the Emu. The majority of the bundle look analogued to a Bird Brain, with a bit of different of extras on the side.
I'm not going to make this a competition, but it doesn't look like an Alligator in my eye.
They're all archosaurs, which makes it interesting to see the fact they're all similar, but definitely, it's nice to have her another reminder that dinosaurs still reside with us! :>
I’ve seen crocodylians that are target trained and respond to their names. Plus their natural behaviors can be pretty complex, including parental care. I think we underestimate them.
That's cool, I didn't know that. I did a bit of reading and it seems that crocodilians are smarter than their reputation, but they’re not in the same league as the smartest birds or mammals (excluding humans).
So maybe T. rex had the potential to be moderately intelligent. Some behavioral flexibility, parental care.
What stood out to me initially is that its brain looks nothing like the brain of an intelligent bird or mammal, where the forebrain dominates. It has very little forebrain at all. That's the part of the brain that mediates intelligence in birds and mammals.
Alligators have even been observed using tools. When birds start building nests, a gator will place a stick on it’s snout, wait for a bird to come grab it, and grab and eat the bird.
Modern birds are closer to dromeosaurs than they are to tyrannosaurs, but birds and tyrannosaurs are still FAR more closely related than either is to an alligator.
The ancestors of modern birds diverged from the ancestors of tyrannosaurs around 165 million years ago.
The ancestors of modern birds diverged from the ancestors of alligators around 240 million years ago.
Using this example, Tyrannosaurus Rex is more closely related to the Emu than the Alligator. All three species are archosaurs, but alligators are in a separate family (or whichever other named) grouping to the other two. Avians are in fact still dinosaurs, and are under the therapoda group, which Tyrannosaurs are a part of.
To be clear, I'm not trying to tell you you're wrong, just thought it was useful information :3 birds are more closely related to raptors and are within the maniraptora clade, but they are still more closely related to Tyrannosaurs Rex than any alligator is, if that makes sense
CT imaging of the brain case. Its pretty close to how the brain would look for the three animals. The blue would be the braincase, the yellow is cranial nerves and the pink is the inner ear.
Note that this does not work for every animal. Some like the tuatara and the coelacanth store fat in their cranium, so their actual brain is smaller than their braincase
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is this to scale?
Yes
See those yellow things...
It really does resemble the Emu one more! It makes sense. Both are Dinosaurs.
edit: All therapods are (INCLUDING BIRDS).
How do you figure? To my eye it resembles the alligator more
It has the shape of the alligator. In functionality it would work more like the emu but it looks very squarely in the middle of the two
The thing I find most striking is that it has a small forebrain, like the alligator
The whole case is more bulky than the Alligator, the vast amount of shapes are distinct, and the yellow, red, and pinkish bits line up more with the Emu. The majority of the bundle look analogued to a Bird Brain, with a bit of different of extras on the side.
I'm not going to make this a competition, but it doesn't look like an Alligator in my eye.
They're all archosaurs, which makes it interesting to see the fact they're all similar, but definitely, it's nice to have her another reminder that dinosaurs still reside with us! :>
?? It looks way more like the alligator
Exactly
What are the yellow flappy doodles?
Yellow is cranial nerves and pink is the inner ear.
https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.70074
I want to see the Allosaurus brain endocast here too for comlarison. I know they found one from The Walking with Dinosaurs Allosaurus film.
That's an impressive endocast. Highly doubtful T. rex was very intelligent with such a small forebrain.
Its forebrain resembles the alligator more than the emu.
I’ve seen crocodylians that are target trained and respond to their names. Plus their natural behaviors can be pretty complex, including parental care. I think we underestimate them.
That's cool, I didn't know that. I did a bit of reading and it seems that crocodilians are smarter than their reputation, but they’re not in the same league as the smartest birds or mammals (excluding humans).
So maybe T. rex had the potential to be moderately intelligent. Some behavioral flexibility, parental care.
What stood out to me initially is that its brain looks nothing like the brain of an intelligent bird or mammal, where the forebrain dominates. It has very little forebrain at all. That's the part of the brain that mediates intelligence in birds and mammals.
Alligators have even been observed using tools. When birds start building nests, a gator will place a stick on it’s snout, wait for a bird to come grab it, and grab and eat the bird.
I’ve seen that paper, and I’m not totally sure it’s a clear example of tool use. But I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility.
You'd be shocked on how intelligent crocodilians are with brains like theirs.
The alligator resemblance makes sense bc afaik the only dinosaurs modern birds are closely related to are raptors but I could be wrong
Modern birds are closer to dromeosaurs than they are to tyrannosaurs, but birds and tyrannosaurs are still FAR more closely related than either is to an alligator.
The ancestors of modern birds diverged from the ancestors of tyrannosaurs around 165 million years ago.
The ancestors of modern birds diverged from the ancestors of alligators around 240 million years ago.
Using this example, Tyrannosaurus Rex is more closely related to the Emu than the Alligator. All three species are archosaurs, but alligators are in a separate family (or whichever other named) grouping to the other two. Avians are in fact still dinosaurs, and are under the therapoda group, which Tyrannosaurs are a part of.
To be clear, I'm not trying to tell you you're wrong, just thought it was useful information :3 birds are more closely related to raptors and are within the maniraptora clade, but they are still more closely related to Tyrannosaurs Rex than any alligator is, if that makes sense
Ye it makes enough sense
Forgive my ignorance, but what is this? I’m a beginner paleofan.
CT imaging of the brain case. Its pretty close to how the brain would look for the three animals. The blue would be the braincase, the yellow is cranial nerves and the pink is the inner ear.
Brain?
It's a cast of the inner part of the skull, because it's shaped to fit the brain. Making a cast of it should give you the shape of the brain.
Note that this does not work for every animal. Some like the tuatara and the coelacanth store fat in their cranium, so their actual brain is smaller than their braincase
When people say lizards are dumb, I just point them to the tuatara (not a lizard) and say "no THAT is a dumb animal." Lizards can be pretty smart.
“We need somewhere to store fat 🤔, ah yes. Brain place.”
It’s probaby a shock absorber, like in Homer Simpson
Gotcha!
Hmm I wonder how smart T-Rex could be... especially given Corvids
Here is a crow brain for comparison. Very different.
https://preview.redd.it/22r505l6x19g1.jpeg?width=685&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58afd8436c627d596c0d0284739bceda7f303d54
I mention crows & relatives because of brain volume I see the familiar lobe set up. Reminds me of Dolphins *wink
Wow!
Very cool stuff. Are there any better resolution ones?
Garchomp?
T. rex did not have a very large brain
It had a notably big brain for a dinosaur. In comparison to most other big theropods, it was massive.