<p>Scientists have discovered that even the most advanced members of the largest group of dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth still had relatively tiny brains, not more than 3 inches in size.<br /><br />Researchers analysed the skull of 70-million-year-old fossils of the giant dinosaur Ampelosaurus, discovered in 2007 in Cuenca, Spain.<br /><br />The reptile - a sauropod - had a long-neck, long-tail and was herbivorous, making them the largest creatures ever to stride the Earth.<br /><br />Ampelosaurus was a kind of sauropod known as a titanosaur, many if not all of which had armour-like scales covering their bodies, LiveScience reported.<br /><br />Sauropod skulls are typically fragile, and few have survived intact enough for scientists to learn much about their brains.<br /><br />By taking scans of the interior of their skull via CT imaging, the researchers developed a 3-D reconstruction of Ampelosaurus’ brain, which was not much bigger than a tennis ball. <br /><br />“This saurian may have reached 15 meters (49 feet) in length; nonetheless its brain was not in excess of 8 centimetres (3 inches),” study researcher Fabien Knoll, a paleontologist at Spain’s National Museum of Natural Sciences, said in a statement.<br />The first sauropods appeared about 160 million years earlier than this fossil.<br /><br />“We don’t see much expansion of brain size in this group of animals as they go through time, unlike a lot of mammalian and bird groups, where you see increases in brain size over time,” researcher Lawrence Witmer, an anatomist and paleontologist at Ohio University, said.</p>.<p>“They apparently hit on something and stuck with it — expansion of brain size over time wasn’t a major focus of theirs,” said Witmer.<br />For years, scientists have wondered how the largest land animals ever lived with such tiny brains.</p>.<p>“Maybe we should flip that question on their end — maybe we shouldn’t ask how they could function with tiny brains, but what are many modern animals doing with such ridiculously large brains. Cows may be triple-Einsteins compared to most dinosaurs, but why?” Witmer said.<br /><br />Computer model of dinosaur also revealed the ampelosaur had a small inner ear.<br />The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.<br /></p>
<p>Scientists have discovered that even the most advanced members of the largest group of dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth still had relatively tiny brains, not more than 3 inches in size.<br /><br />Researchers analysed the skull of 70-million-year-old fossils of the giant dinosaur Ampelosaurus, discovered in 2007 in Cuenca, Spain.<br /><br />The reptile - a sauropod - had a long-neck, long-tail and was herbivorous, making them the largest creatures ever to stride the Earth.<br /><br />Ampelosaurus was a kind of sauropod known as a titanosaur, many if not all of which had armour-like scales covering their bodies, LiveScience reported.<br /><br />Sauropod skulls are typically fragile, and few have survived intact enough for scientists to learn much about their brains.<br /><br />By taking scans of the interior of their skull via CT imaging, the researchers developed a 3-D reconstruction of Ampelosaurus’ brain, which was not much bigger than a tennis ball. <br /><br />“This saurian may have reached 15 meters (49 feet) in length; nonetheless its brain was not in excess of 8 centimetres (3 inches),” study researcher Fabien Knoll, a paleontologist at Spain’s National Museum of Natural Sciences, said in a statement.<br />The first sauropods appeared about 160 million years earlier than this fossil.<br /><br />“We don’t see much expansion of brain size in this group of animals as they go through time, unlike a lot of mammalian and bird groups, where you see increases in brain size over time,” researcher Lawrence Witmer, an anatomist and paleontologist at Ohio University, said.</p>.<p>“They apparently hit on something and stuck with it — expansion of brain size over time wasn’t a major focus of theirs,” said Witmer.<br />For years, scientists have wondered how the largest land animals ever lived with such tiny brains.</p>.<p>“Maybe we should flip that question on their end — maybe we shouldn’t ask how they could function with tiny brains, but what are many modern animals doing with such ridiculously large brains. Cows may be triple-Einsteins compared to most dinosaurs, but why?” Witmer said.<br /><br />Computer model of dinosaur also revealed the ampelosaur had a small inner ear.<br />The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.<br /></p>