I hope Emily's well! Since you mentioned what she's doing right now... can you tell me why cancer was quite widespread among hadrosaurs? As far as I know, most of the dinosaur fossils with signs of various kind of cancers are from hadrosaurs (ceratopsians may be the second on that list).
Thanks for the comment! Yes, we miss Emily Caggiano, but she's doing very well in her new life in one of the top cancer research labs in the country. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a recent study tabulating-and critically evaluating-cases of documented bone cancers in dinosaurs. It'd be good to do. I agree it seems that hadrosaurs seem to show a fairly high incidence...but we also have a lot of hadrosaur bones in collections, so there might be a numbers game there that influences that perception.
Fascinating to hear that it’s possible tyrannosaurus were clever. I wonder to what extent. On a related note, do their brains have the structures necessary for consciousness? I get the impression that at the very least, vertebrates experience things. I suppose however that is a difficult thing to know with any certainty even in extant animals.
Great questions! In fact, we're part of a research group trying to get a better handle on trying to understand the evolution of cognition in deep time. It's hard because endocasts just give us-at best-knowledge about the surface of the brain, not the wiring. But we can get decent estimates of the size of the cerebrum which is typically regarded in a general sense as the "seat of cognition." Stay tuned...!
Thanks! Yeah, there are some other segments from this "class" session for Ohio University alumni that could be excerpted and shared. I'll try to find some time to pull those together.
The brain of T. rex would weigh somewhat less that a pound. Respectable but not overly impressive given its body size but the relationship of brain to body size is complex.
Great video as always!!!
That T.rex brain is bigger than my baby brother’s brain
I hope Emily's well! Since you mentioned what she's doing right now... can you tell me why cancer was quite widespread among hadrosaurs? As far as I know, most of the dinosaur fossils with signs of various kind of cancers are from hadrosaurs (ceratopsians may be the second on that list).
Thanks for the comment! Yes, we miss Emily Caggiano, but she's doing very well in her new life in one of the top cancer research labs in the country. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a recent study tabulating-and critically evaluating-cases of documented bone cancers in dinosaurs. It'd be good to do. I agree it seems that hadrosaurs seem to show a fairly high incidence...but we also have a lot of hadrosaur bones in collections, so there might be a numbers game there that influences that perception.
Fascinating to hear that it’s possible tyrannosaurus were clever. I wonder to what extent. On a related note, do their brains have the structures necessary for consciousness? I get the impression that at the very least, vertebrates experience things. I suppose however that is a difficult thing to know with any certainty even in extant animals.
Great questions! In fact, we're part of a research group trying to get a better handle on trying to understand the evolution of cognition in deep time. It's hard because endocasts just give us-at best-knowledge about the surface of the brain, not the wiring. But we can get decent estimates of the size of the cerebrum which is typically regarded in a general sense as the "seat of cognition." Stay tuned...!
Thanks so much for the reply. That is very exciting
All living things with a brain experience consciousness, dinosaurs are no exception.
Great video is there a part two
Thanks! Yeah, there are some other segments from this "class" session for Ohio University alumni that could be excerpted and shared. I'll try to find some time to pull those together.
How heavy would the brain of T. rex be ?
The brain of T. rex would weigh somewhat less that a pound. Respectable but not overly impressive given its body size but the relationship of brain to body size is complex.