Sharper Than They Look

Some dinosaurs were no dimwits. Troodontids had some of the largest brains relative to body size of any dinosaur — closer to a modern flightless bird like an ostrich than to a typical reptile. Fossil trackways add another clue: rows of footprints show predators traveling side by side, which some researchers read as a sign of group behavior — though others argue the same tracks could mark loose, fleeting gatherings rather than true coordinated hunting.

A Reign, Not a Failure

Dinosaurs ruled the land for about 165 million years — mammals appeared a little later in the Triassic, which is why their shared run runs slightly shorter. By comparison, our own species has been around only a few hundred thousand years, a sliver of that. Then an asteroid struck, and most large land animals vanished. Dinosaurs were not evolutionary losers; they were a roaring success ended by cosmic bad luck.