Dinosaur Hand to Hand?

I like to think sapience came with the endowment of the soul...of course, that theory requires both a source by which the soul came into existence and what defines its existence. Haha, I just made this get philosophical. So God comes along and says, "Hey, your brain to body ratio looks pretty spiffy, let's give you a soul and sapience. And let's leave the dolphins wondering why they got cheated." Bang.

But in all seriousness, I do believe sapience is pretty useless without the soul, therefore, it doesn't just "evolve".

Zillamaster55 wrote:I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY DINOSAURS WERE DUMB WITH SMALLER BRAINS! Look at a freaking parrot, or a pig, or a dog. Animals with small brain sizes comparative to their body, are pretty effin smart.

I didn't say dinosaurs were dumb, but their brains for the most part were small compared to their body size. I don't like it when anyone calls any species dumb; every species is as smart as it needs to be in order to survive so don't misquote me on this. Humans survive because of our intelligence so we measure the worth of other species by intelligence as well but there have been and will be more successful species who we view as "dumb". You think I'm trying to say dinosaurs were dumb, that is the last thing I'm trying to say.
I don't know where your getting this small brain idea in regards to modern animals. All the animals you listen have a decent size brain to body ratio. If you need diagrams...I got 'em.

Dog


Goose (couldn't find parrot)


And for comparison sake, Tyrannosaurus. Considered a fairly intelligent species.


Surely you can see the size difference? But even still, size doesn't matter. Rats have larger brains compared to their body size than we do. What matters is the structure and the size of the various parts of the brain. In particular the cerebrum which is the part of the brain responsible for what we consider intelligence. Consider a bird's brain...



Even if small check out that cerebrum...pretty big right? How about our our own brain...


Now how about a crocodilian?


And for the heck of it, lets compare three different species of dinosaurs.

Now I'm sure everyone here can agree that dromaeosaurs were fairly intelligent, but does that really measure up to bird...and a chicken at that.

actualy, it's brain to body size ratio is closer to that of a dog or a cat. they were HIGHLY intelligent animals that were probobly capable of advance planning, and possibly bordoring on sapience.

No, I don't know your sources but they're wrong. Don't buy into the Jurassic Park "smart as a chimpanzee" hype. Every paleontologist will tell you troodon was intelligent... compared to other dinosaurs. Compared to the animals alive today how about this...

"...had one of the largest brain-body ratios of any dinosaur (comparable to an emu)"
SOURCE: http://www.howardism.org/Philosophy/Questions/Troodon.html

"One of the brainiest dinosaurs we know about at the end of the Cretaceous was Troodon (a.k.a. Stenonychosaurus inequalis) a 1.2-meter-tall, 70-kg carnivorous dinosaur with perhaps the intelligence of an opossum."
SOURCE: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/D/dinosaurintell.html

"Troodon was unusually brainy by dinosaur standards: paleontologists think it may even have been as smart as small, primitive mammals like opossums"
SOURCE: http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/carnivorousdinosaurs/p/troodon.htm

Again I want to clarify, I don't consider dinosaurs dumb. Some of the most intelligent animals alive during their rein were dinosaurs (troodon) and some of the smartest animals alive today are dinosaurs (parrots, ravens). All I'm trying to do is correct some of the gross misrepresentations of troodon's intelligence.

Hey, is that roadkill, or a Troodon playing dead?