Permian neurodivergence

News here is that birds and other reptilians have different brains. By brain they mean the pallium, basis of the neocortex; the article has reptiles as an afterthought, but treats them as alongside us synapsids.

So the split happened during the Permian, each side developing its dinosaur or mammalian brain on its own. (Or turtles or snakes or whatever.) One imagines that the Permian fauna were all basic dunces.

This further aligns with news to lighten the Hard Steps toward sentience. Once life grunts itself off the swamps, that life enjoys several routes toward some degree of intelligence. The Chicxulub blast was a setback, but something found its way to be human-smart [insert political joke here]. Some form of clambering dino might have figured it out first.