"New Research Shows That T-Rex Was as Smart as a Chimp"

[Mini Minmi]

I'm with Papi-Anon on this. Part of the problem with humans I think comes from making our lives too easy. Animals have to focus on survival all the time. Humans don't. And with that comes boredom. And from boredom comes catastrophe. A bit like a dog left alone at home with nothing to do is likely to destroy the room.

[Huskies]

That is true, but when we leave our dog alone in the house and he/ she destroy the room is it because of boredom or the dog is teaching us a lesson for not leaving the dog alone? I could leave my dogs alone in the house for couple hours and everything will be fine. But if I go longer than that it is like opening a box of chocolate, you never know what you will find.  ^
It is true that we have made our lives too easy, heck all you need right now is a smart phone and you can find everything you need. May be what they said in Wall-e movie is true. In the future we will only sit all day and do nothing.

[ITdactyl]

@Neosodon , one can argue that deer and other animals have already learned how to safely cross roads... but still cannot account for humans who ignore speed limits (and other rules) when they think no one's watching.

Sorry, 'went off tangent.  Back on topic, I'm not a fan of using statements like "as smart as chimps" without providing the point of comparison.  I tend to put it in the same "abused" box as the well worn "living fossil".  What was the author referring to anyway?  Was it the inferred social structure of a Rex family?

Now my interest in the book is piqued... which was probably why he used that statement in a press release anyway.... heh....

[Mini Minmi]

That's the part that was disappointing in an otherwise quite entertaining book: he doesn't explain it. He says that the brain vs body size compares between t.rex and chimps and bases himself only on that to make that statement. And as was pointed out earlier in the thread, it's not a very foolproof way of measuring. I'm also doubting the numbers that make the brain size of t.rex reach similar proportions to its body as a chimpanzee's brain would. No mention of whether it's because fossil evidence proves complex social behavior or anything of the sort. It's really just because the brain/body ratio is said to be the same. Unless I completely misunderstood that section in the book because it doesn't seem to make sense.

[Papi-Anon]

@Neosodon - I'm having a good laugh imagining Neanderthals and H. sapiens sitting in line getting their driver's licenses made in a cave using stone flakes while a Denisovan straps a downed Megaloceros to his truck after a successful hunt.