Posted: Jun 16, 2014 12:55 pm
Oh, Tyrannosaurus rex was a pure predator was it? I'd love to see the data on that! Can you, Jayjay4547, be sure the the huge theropod didn't scavenge when the opportunity presented itself? Having studied the beast, and its environment, over several decades I'm calling bullshit on this one. I wouldn't use examples that can't be supported, and I'm betting you can't support this.
Edmontosaurus annectens have been on my mind lately (mainly 'cause this is the time of year to start field ops in the northern plains). I personally know of 4 mass mortality sites where thousands of these duck billed herbivores are entombed, and have worked at two of them. In both cases it appears as if the dinosaurs were piled up like flotsam during a local flood, and buried later in an ashfall, and another flood, from volcanoes hundreds of miles to the west. During the time before their bodies rotted there was a treasure trove of meat just waiting for the hungry/brooding theropods, crocodiles, Komodo dragon-sized lizards and pterosaurs at the edge of a river. Those hadrosaur bones nearest the top of the depositional layer also had bite marks, and lost teeth from all the above, including the big guy, T. rex. Coolest of all the lost teeth, for me, was the tiny little teeth from Troodon formosus. Those teeth alone could have been the basis for a paper on the presence of the tiny theropod in the latest Cretaceous. There was so much meat lying about the little guys could get in there and gnash without turning into turds themselves. Obvious scavenging was a practice that nearly all the predatory population took part in.
From Wiki:
Troodon formosus shed teeth
So, my challenge is this. Is the any evidence that T. rex was a pure predator? I can access peer reviewed material from other workers to confirm my field observations if I need to. Do I?
RS
Edmontosaurus annectens have been on my mind lately (mainly 'cause this is the time of year to start field ops in the northern plains). I personally know of 4 mass mortality sites where thousands of these duck billed herbivores are entombed, and have worked at two of them. In both cases it appears as if the dinosaurs were piled up like flotsam during a local flood, and buried later in an ashfall, and another flood, from volcanoes hundreds of miles to the west. During the time before their bodies rotted there was a treasure trove of meat just waiting for the hungry/brooding theropods, crocodiles, Komodo dragon-sized lizards and pterosaurs at the edge of a river. Those hadrosaur bones nearest the top of the depositional layer also had bite marks, and lost teeth from all the above, including the big guy, T. rex. Coolest of all the lost teeth, for me, was the tiny little teeth from Troodon formosus. Those teeth alone could have been the basis for a paper on the presence of the tiny theropod in the latest Cretaceous. There was so much meat lying about the little guys could get in there and gnash without turning into turds themselves. Obvious scavenging was a practice that nearly all the predatory population took part in.
From Wiki:
Troodon formosus shed teeth
So, my challenge is this. Is the any evidence that T. rex was a pure predator? I can access peer reviewed material from other workers to confirm my field observations if I need to. Do I?
RS