Dinosaur brains and intelligence

**Dinosaur brains and intelligence** are interesting topics. Dinosaurs were once regarded as stupid animals, but it is now realised that some of the smaller carnivores had above average intelligence for reptiles. This idea led to exaggerated portrayals in films like *Jurassic Park*.

## *Stegosaurus* 
The idea that *Stegosaurus* had a "brain the size of a walnut" (an oft-repeated phrase), was not quite accurate. It had a brain the size of a dog's, but in proportion to its body, the brain was very small. In the 1880s a well-preserved *Stegosaurus* braincase allowed Othniel Charles Marsh to get a cast of the brain cavity, which gave an idea of the brain size. The endocast showed that the brain was indeed small: relative to body size, maybe the smallest among the dinosaurs. The fact that an animal weighing over 4.5&nbsp;metric tonnes (5&nbsp;short tons) could have a brain of no more than 80&nbsp;grams (2.8&nbsp;oz) led to the idea that dinosaurs were unintelligent, an idea now largely rejected.

Marsh noted a large canal in the hip region of the spinal cord. It could have had 20 times the neurons of the famously small brain. This may have been used to coordinate the hind region in defence against theropod attack. This function for the "second brain" is not proved by any direct evidence.

## Brain-body size relationship 
Brain size usually increases with body size in animals (is positively correlated). That means large animals usually have larger brains than smaller animals. The relationship is not linear however. Generally, small mammals have *relatively* larger brains than big ones. Mice have a direct brain/body size ratio similar to humans (1/40). Elephants have a comparatively small brain/body size (1/560), although elephants are obviously quite intelligent animals.

### Encephalization quotient (EQ) 
The formula for the curve varies, but is usually given as **Ew(brain) = 0.12w(body)2/3**. As this formula is based on data from mammals, it should be applied to other animals with caution. For some of the other vertebrate classes the power of 3/4 rather than 2/3 is sometimes used, and for many groups of invertebrates the formula may give no meaningful results at all.

## Dinosaur brains 
 albertensis* skull.]]

### Problems with EQ 
Traditional comparisons of brain volume to body mass in dinosaurs have estimated brain size as the volume of the endocast. However, the brain of the modern reptile genus *Sphenodon* fills only about half of its endocranial volume.]]

Most dinosaurs, and most theropods, had brains no better than present-day reptiles, so far as can be estimated. In a 2001 study of a *Carcharodontosaurus saharicus* endocast, Hans Larsson found that both *C. saharicus* and *Allosaurus* had a ratio of cerebrum to brain volume that was very similar to non-avian reptiles. By contrast, the *Tyrannosaurus* ratio was slightly in the direction of a more bird-like proportion. Since tyrannosaurs are relatively basal coelurosaurs, this is evidence that the Coelurosauria mark the beginning of a trend in theropod brain enlargement.

### Troodon 
*Troodon*s cerebrum-to-brain-volume ratio was 31.5% to 63% of the way from a nonavian reptile proportion to a truly avian one.

### Archaeopteryx 
*Archaeopteryx'' had a cerebrum-to-brain-volume ratio 78% of the way to modern birds.

## Summary 
The method used for Larsson's comparison was not the EQ, but a ratio of the size of the cerebrum to the whole brain. The cerebrum is chiefly responsible for what might be called 'intelligent behaviour'.

The brains of dinosaurs were generally much like other reptiles in their proportions. The exception is the coelurosaurs, which had cerebra proportionately larger than most reptiles, though proportionately smaller than modern birds.

## References