[url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130520114017.htm]Article[/url] [quote]Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, together with Tom Hübner from the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum in Hannover, Germany, picked the brains of 150 million year old dinosaurs. The two palaeontologists studied different fossils of the Jurassic dinosaur Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki: a very young (juvenile) individual of approximately three years of age and a fully grown specimen of more than 12 years of age. Stephan Lautenschlager, lead author of the paper, said: "The two different growth stages of Dysalotosaurus provided a unique opportunity to study their brain, and how it developed during the growth of the animal." Using high-resolution CT scanning and 3D computer imaging, it was possible to reconstruct and visualise the brain and inner ear of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki -- a small, plant-eating dinosaur, which lived 150 million years ago, in what is now Tanzania. Co-author Tom Hübner said: "Well-preserved fossil material, which can be used to reconstruct the brain anatomy is usually rare. Thus, we were fortunate to have different growth stages available for our study." By looking at the brain and inner ear anatomy, the two researchers found that the brain of Dysalotosaurus underwent considerable changes during growth -- most likely as a response to environmental and metabolic requirements. However, important parts responsible for the sense of hearing and cognitive processes were already well developed in the young individual. Stephan Lautenschlager said: "Our study shows that the brain was already well-developed in the young dinosaurs and adapted perfectly to interact with their environment and other individuals." This study has important ramifications for the understanding of how parts of the brain developed in dinosaurs. However, further research into that field is necessary to investigate if the pattern of brain development in individual dinosaurs is also reflected in a large scale trend during the more than 150 million years of dinosaur evolution. The study was funded by a research fellowship to Stephan Lautenschlager from the German Volkswagen Foundation.[/quote] Basically what the article is saying is that the brain of the specimen at hand was already developed even at an early age. The next step is to figure out whether or not this trait permeated through dinosaurs as a whole. Given the age of the specimen, it's not easy to determine whether or not this was simply a trait that dinosaurs simply possessed since their advent or if this was an acquired trait. The specimen is from 150 million years ago, placing it in the late Jurassic, meaning that it was from slightly after the middle of the dinosaur reign. Without a second specimen from an earlier time, it's impossible to determine whether or not the trait was acquired or not. For more paleontology, follow #DoP.