Dinosaur Brains episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 4, 2025 · 1H 18M

Dinosaur Brains

from I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The discovery of a new Psittacosaurus species from a braincase, how spinosaur brains adapted for eating fish, revisiting T. rex intelligence, and many more dinosaur brain updatesFor links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Tatankacephalus, and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Tatankacephalus-Episode-547/Join us at www.patreon.com/iknowdino for dinosaur requests, bonus content, ad-free episodes, and more.Dinosaur of the day Tatankacephalus, the "bison-headed" armored dinosaur.In dinosaur news this week:A skull, including a braincase, is enough to tell us there’s a new Psittacosaurus species, Psittacosaurus houiStudying dinosaur brains is an evolving fieldBrain size varied in dinosaursCeratopsians became less intelligent and had worse hearing and a worse sense of smell as they evolved to larger sizesOrnithopods, and especially hadrosaurs, had bigger brains than we thoughtThescelosaurus had a powerful sense of smell, a sensitive vestibular system, but terrible hearing—all which may mean it was a burrowerA study of spinosaur brains and skulls helps show how they adapted to eat fishLiving birds have high EQs which they evolved from non-avian dinosaurs (although we don't really use EQs much anymore)Shuvuuia may not have had specialized hearingThe enantiornithe Navaornis hestiae tells us a lot about bird brainsUnique brain shape in birds may be why birds survived non-avian dinosaurs after the mass extinction eventParrots and humans may use similar brain mechanisms to produce complex soundsBird brains (and our brains) are wired for taking turns when communicatingT. rex had the intelligence of a baboon paperRebuttal to T. rex baboon intelligence paper This episode is brought to you by our patrons. Their generous contributions make our podcast possible! You can now save 10% by paying annually. Go to Patreon.com/iknowdino to sign up and help us keep creating I Know Dino every week.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The discovery of a new Psittacosaurus species from a braincase, how spinosaur brains adapted for eating fish, revisiting T. rex intelligence, and many more dinosaur brain updatesFor links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Tatankacephalus, and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Tatankacephalus-Episode-547/Join us at www.patreon.com/iknowdino for dinosaur requests, bonus content, ad-free episodes, and more.Dinosaur of the day Tatankacephalus, the "bison-headed" armored dinosaur.In dinosaur news this week:A skull, including a braincase, is enough to tell us there’s a new Psittacosaurus species, Psittacosaurus houiStudying dinosaur brains is an evolving fieldBrain size varied in dinosaursCeratopsians became less intelligent and had worse hearing and a worse sense of smell as they evolved to larger sizesOrnithopods, and especially hadrosaurs, had bigger brains than we thoughtThescelosaurus had a powerful sense of smell, a sensitive vestibular system, but terrible hearing—all which may mean it was a burrowerA study of spinosaur brains and skulls helps show how they adapted to eat fishLiving birds have high EQs which they evolved from non-avian dinosaurs (although we don't really use EQs much anymore)Shuvuuia may not have had specialized hearingThe enantiornithe Navaornis hestiae tells us a lot about bird brainsUnique brain shape in birds may be why birds survived non-avian dinosaurs after the mass extinction eventParrots and humans may use similar brain mechanisms to produce complex soundsBird brains (and our brains) are wired for taking turns when communicatingT. rex had the intelligence of a baboon paperRebuttal to T. rex baboon intelligence paper This episode is brought to you by our patrons. Their generous contributions make our podcast possible! You can now save 10% by paying annually. Go to Patreon.com/iknowdino to sign up and help us keep creating I Know Dino every week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Dinosaur Brains

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This episode is 1 hour and 18 minutes long.

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This episode was published on September 4, 2025.

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The discovery of a new Psittacosaurus species from a braincase, how spinosaur brains adapted for eating fish, revisiting T. rex intelligence, and many more dinosaur brain updatesFor links to every news story, all of the details we shared about...

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