Comments on: Walnut the True Measure of a Dinosaur’s Brain

By: Dave from Squamish

Dave from Squamish — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:26:34 +0000

Ah, yes, that belie can ruffle. As the time my local DJ spoke of a menagerie of flavours…..meaning melange. I know from speaking with him afterwards he also had a brain the size of a walnut.

By: Mike from Ottawa

Mike from Ottawa — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:20:09 +0000

Mr Pedantic says that in “display structures that belie some sort of social interaction and behavior” you appear to be using “belie” to mean the exact opposite of what the word normally means. Normally to “belie” is to give a false impression.

I don’t ordinarly much mind inventive uses for words, but having them come to mean both their original meaning and it’s opposite ruffles my display structures.

By: Don Esker

Don Esker — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:53:39 +0000

The so called ‘second brain’ is just a swelling in the spinal cord — a ganglion. Lots of vertebrates have them at the base of their tails. Even people — who don’t have much of a tail to speak of — have them in the form of the lumbar enlargement of the spinal cord.

By: figleaf

figleaf — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:35:58 +0000

Just for sake of comparison what’s the brain size of higher-intelligence and/or high-sociability birds such as crows, ravens, parrots, etc.?

Or maybe a better question would be is it possible to resolve dinosaur brain structures well enough to compare them to the brain structures in birds that are responsible for sociability, problem-solving, and memory?

Thanks!

Extra credit: What about the idea, also popularized in the early 20th Century, that dinosaurs had “second brains” in their lower spines or pelvises that “probably did most of the work?”