To: presidio9
the part of its brain dedicated to smell was hugeHow can they possibly know this?
2 posted on
07/31/2003 9:52:21 AM PDT by
Sir Gawain
(My tag line is funnier than yours)
To: Sir Gawain
Sofisticated wild a$$ guess (SWAG)
7 posted on
07/31/2003 10:00:24 AM PDT by
Arrowhead1952
(Clone Ann Coulter, the woman sent by God)
To: Sir Gawain
. . the part of its brain dedicated to smell was huge
How can they possibly know this?
Know, as in absolute certainty? I'd say they can't. However, all vertebrate brains are arranged pretty much the same way. Corresponding areas of the brain, from the frontal lobes to the brain stem, control the same sort of things. There are distinct areas that govern sight, smell, hearing, touch, etc.
The relative size of the various parts of the brain, which can be determined with some accuracy by looking at the brain cavity in fossilized skulls, gives a pretty good idea on how well a particular capability was developed.
That's what the statement is - that the part of the brain dedicated to smell was huge - but there is usually corroborating evidence as well. Large nostrils with extensive tissue to absorb smells versus small eyes with a poor resolution capability, for example, can confirm the evidence of the brain cavity itself, and all those are determinable from fossilized remains.
As the saying goes, "The race is not always to the swift, nor the victory to the strong - but that's the way to bet."
15 posted on
07/31/2003 10:26:18 AM PDT by
Gorjus
To: Sir Gawain
the part of its brain dedicated to smell was huge How can they possibly know this?
Perhaps they're DimocRATs and they want it to be that way. No better way to make it so than to say it like you believe it...
17 posted on
07/31/2003 10:27:08 AM PDT by
trebb
To: Sir Gawain
How can they possibly know this? The brain leaves a cast inside the skull (or, more accurately, the skull fits around the brain like a glove to protect it). The shape of the brain can be determined from this. Dinosaur brains have parts corresponding to parts found in modern critters, and the part in the T. Rex brain corresponding to scent processing is fairly large.
18 posted on
07/31/2003 10:27:27 AM PDT by
Junior
(Killed a six pack ... just to watch it die.)
To: Sir Gawain
How ? From the size of the sinuses and nasal cavities, and the size of the nerve trunk running into the brain from them. . .you don't put in a 8-lane superhighway for farm-road traffic. . .
32 posted on
07/31/2003 11:21:06 AM PDT by
Salgak
(don't mind me: the orbital mind control lasers are making me write this. . .)
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