If dinosaurs didn't become extinct...what would be the most intelligent creature on earth today?

Question

I mean, would there be intelligent reptiles then? Because if dinosaurs didn't die out, obviously mammals wouldn't be ruling the earth now would they?

no i dont think the most intelligent creature would be mammals because mammals were just annoying little critters when dinosaurs ruled, so there. if dinosaurs were still alive mammals wont get a chance to evolve.

well in my opinion, i think troodon or velociraptor would be on top of the intelligence list, because they were the cleverest reptiles, and reptiles then were on top of the food chain. but yeah, probably those little critters would be actually smarter than those who were bigger than them. but then they could only use it on feeding themselves and things, right? and i dont think those little shrews couldve evolved nicely to homo sapiens under the threatens of dinosaurs...

Answer 1

some scientists have suspected that if dinosaurs didn't go exctinct,Troodon might have evolved into a humanoid intelligent being.And,if dinosaurs didn't go extinct,mammals would still just small,shrewlike animals.

Answer 2

Well, if evolution is true, then there is no way to know such a complicated question. If it's not, people would still be the smartest:) But lets go with evolution for a second. One small change in the past has to potential to change a ton of things in the future. For example, lets say you went back in time and stepped on a bug. No big deal, right? Probably not. But it is possible that that bug was they way your grandparents, or great grandparents, or someone, met (girl gets scared, guy squashes bug). Well, the bug is dead, so they never meet, and you aren't born. It's a little bit of an extreme example, but it's cool to think about. But imagine if it was something big, such as dinosaurs not dying. That would have such a huge impact on things that there is no way to predict what would happen. It is possible that some reptile would be the smartest, but for all we know, maybe there would be no "smartest" animal. Just a bunch of stupid ones. Of course, this answer depends on the theory of evolution being true. If it is not, then none of this answer really matters, does it? Hope that helps:)

Answer 3

Wellll, alligators didn't go extinct, and THEY're not the most intelligent thing alive today. In fact they probably haven't increased their intelligence at all since the time of the dinosaurs. We really don't know how mammals would have evolved, or even what they were like at that time. Recently I read about a find of mammal bones from that period that were much larger than it was believed mammals were at that time. And we have no idea in what dimension dinosaurs would have evolved. We don't even know if increase in intelligence was inevitable.

Answer 4

OK if we assume that mammals didn't become the dominant life form then Man would would have probably not had the room to develop and so the likely answer would be, depending on climate changes etc a medium sized dinosaur that was quick and a meat eater (protein is what made our brains develop) so my guess would one of the raptor group But hands and opposible thumbs are what makes our brains really useful and raptors dont have them. Mammals are warm blooded and are better able to survive climate change so maybe we would still be top dog

Answer 5

Depends what you mean by intelligence. Dinosaurs were top of the food chain for more than 160 million years and didn't develop intelligence as we generally understand it in terms of developing some kind of technological society. Mammals of some kind would still have been the best bet, probably, in developing intelligence. Mammals seem to be able to manage climate change better than most species. Primates have been around for what? 25 million years? (not too sure how long) but they ended with us humans at the top of the evolutionary pile.

Answer 6

- intelligence works on at least two levels: individual level
and organised level (eg. bee and ant colonies)
dinosaurs were so diverse they occupied both these
levels. They filled every possible niche including the sea
and skies, highly successful by our standards. The
carnivores had to out-perform and out-wit their smaller-
brained plant-munching prey, and this a driver for
intelligence. Some argue that modern day feathery
birds are descended from scaly ancestors. Members
of the crow family are smart. It's quite possible that over
70 million more years dinosaurs could have emerged as
super-intelligent beings. One advantage we mammals
have is that we are not cold blooded, but even now we
can't be sure dinosaurs could emerge with their own
thermostats.

Answer 7

Still Humans, However Veloceraptors where considerably highly intelligent due to presumably highly evolved hunting tactics and assume communicative abilities but as reptiles intelligence seem to be limited to specialised skills such as hunting.

Answer 8

Yeah the dinosaurs would continually be evolving and get smarter and stuff the veloceraptor's were the smartest dinosaur i think so they'd be like ruling the place playing chess and inventing stuff.

Answer 9

Probably some cheeky little dinosaur like the Veloceraptor. They would maybe have honed their hunting and ambush skills. But couldn't exactly invent the wheel.

Answer 10

They won't survive one minute, because they're supposed to live in an unharmed, virginal planet. Now this is gone so only humans stay, that have adapted themselves to the mess they made.