Joel Kontinen
Tyrannosaurus rex has a reputation for being one of the biggest and fiercest dinosaurs ever to have lived. But it probably wasn’t the brightest: it had a simpler brain than an earlier, smaller tyrannosaur. The change could be a consequence of growing so large.
Fossils suggest that T. rex could reach 12 metres in length and between 8 and 14 tonnes in weight. It belonged to a family of dinosaurs called the tyrannosaurs – but not all of them were large, for instance, the Dilong paradoxus which was 1.6 m (5ft 2 inches) in length. However, this specimen was a juvenile and would have become 2 m (6 feet) fully grown.
Now, the solution that New Scientist has for this dinosaur, is that it “dumbed down” its brain.
Did not know that dinosaurs had that faculty.
Source:
Ye, Yvaine. 2018. T. rex evolved into a monster predator by dumbing down its brain. New Scientist (3 October).
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