Re: Why didn't at least one dinosaur species become human-level smart?

The Translucent Amoebae wrote:
On Dec 5, 9:09 am, "zzbun...@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <zzbun...@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Dec 2, 11:07 pm, STJensen <RecreationalPo...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The dinosa...
Because Dinosaurs brains were devoted almost entirely to lifting
their legs up.
They couldn't do much else.



Scott

i've often wondered, what was it about dinosaurs that were so
different from modern mammals, such as gazelles or zebras or
wildebeests...???
Behaviorally, they must have been indistinguishable on a savanna...
But the dinosaurs had those teeny tiny brains...
What could zebras do that brontosaurus' couldn't...???

Three points:
a) the large dinosaurs had very, very small brains compared to their body size;
b) the smaller dinosaurs had somewhat larger brains compared to their body size;
c) in comparison to dinosaurs, zebras have very large brains.

Large brains take a lot of energy to operate. The human brain appropriates about 1/3rd of your blood flow (which is why you faint when that third is much reduced.) Alpha has pointed out, correctly, that evolution tends to make organs as efficient as possible, but even an efficient brain is a power hog compared to the muscular-skeletal system.

HTH
.

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