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Dino intelligence



Richar L. wrote:

> I thought the dumbest scene in the movie was where the raptors were
> manipulating the doorknobs.  The inference that such theropods were
> pretty brainy is based largely on estimated brain/body size ratios
> of said critters, which overlap those of birds.  Another way of
> putting this is to say that Deinonychus et al. might have been
> roughly as smart as emus, if brain/body size ratios mean much.  This
> is a scary thought.  Having worked a lot with captive emus, my
> impression is that the interesting question isn't whether
> dromaeosaurs, troodonts, etc. could turn doorknobs.  The question
> worth asking is whether, given an open door with no obstructions, a
> raptor could go through it without splatting against the wall on
> either side.  Yikes.

Dunno about that---some birds aren't so dumb. Crows for instance, and
parrots.  Specifically Alex, the Australian Grey Parrot, ever seen him
operating?  He's so intelligent it's almost spooky.  (Well not to me,
but...)  However, I do not know how brain/bodysize compares with reguard to
that of the notoriously dumb Emus or Dinonychus/Velociraptor.  However,
aren't anmimals that hunt in packs and have a social structure by and large
all considered "smart" (those in this day and age I mean)?  Now, although
we don't actually know whether Dinonychus or Velociraptor really were pack
animals, or even if they hunted in packs, if they did wouldn't that make
them "smart"?  Or has no one ever done a study on this?  I think the
results of such a study would be interesting to see, and perhaps draw
inferences from.  Not that I am saying that based on this all solitary
animals have to be "dumb".  Just that perhaps all pack animals might have
to be "smart" IE have a certain level of sophistication and intelligence in
order to be social creatures?

Any thoughts?

Seth A. Ellestad.