RE: T-Rex Not Merely a Scavenger
July 16, 2013 at 12:30 pm
(This post was last modified: July 16, 2013 at 12:44 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(July 16, 2013 at 11:28 am)Minimalist Wrote: http://www.newsdaily.com/article/e35d644...r-got-away
Quote:NEW YORK (AP) — The fearsome bite of a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex left behind new evidence that the famous beast hunted for food and wasn't just a scavenger.
Researchers found a part of a T. rex tooth wedged between two tailbones of a duckbill dinosaur unearthed in northwestern South Dakota. The tooth was partially enclosed by regrown bone, indicating the smaller duckbill had escaped from the T. rex and lived for months or years afterward.
Seems to put to rest the idea that T Rex only picked up dead bodies.
So which of Noah's children did papa and mama T rex eat?
But the notion T-rex was a pure scavenger was strange. I can't think of many large modern carnovores that didn't do some of both. Active predation is very expensive in terms energy consumed and risk of injury. If you are the biggest carnovore around, why wouldn't you save energy and avail yourself of some safety when you can by scaring away smaller predator to scavenge on their kills when you can? At the same time, when you are starving and there is nothing to scavenge, why wouldn't you try some hunting?