T. Rex More Hyena Than Lion

ScienceDaily ^ | February 22, 2011 | Unknown

[Immerito]

T. Rex More Hyena Than Lion: Tyrannosaurus Rex Was Opportunistic Feeder, Not Top Predator, Paleontologists Say

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2011) — The ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex has been depicted as the top dog of the Cretaceous, ruthlessly stalking herds of duck-billed dinosaurs and claiming the role of apex predator, much as the lion reigns supreme in the African veld.

But a new census of all dinosaur skeletons unearthed over a large area of eastern Montana shows that Tyrannosaurus was too numerous to have subsisted solely on the dinosaurs it tracked and killed with its scythe-like teeth.

Instead, argue paleontologists John "Jack" Horner from the Museum of the Rockies and Mark B. Goodwin from the University of California, Berkeley, T. rex was probably an opportunistic predator, like the hyena in Africa today, subsisting on both carrion and fresh-killed prey and exploiting a variety of animals, not just large grazers.

"In our census, T. rex came out very high, equivalent in numbers to Edmontosaurus, which many people had thought was its primary prey," said Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont., and Regents Professor at Montana State University. "This says that T. rex is not a cheetah, it's not a lion. It's more like a hyena."

[BornToBeAmerican]

For what it is worth, I seen something like this on Discovery several years ago. They spoke about the tiny forelimbs being next to useless and a couple of other things that made big ole TRex nothing but a scavenger

[BobSimons]

its sad what passes for Science today.

[BobSimons]

give these “scientists” 10 years they will claim 50% of t-rex were homosexuals

[vbmoneyspender]

There’s always an animal at the top of the food chain. So if T-Rex wasn’t at the top of the food-chain during its time, which dinosaur was? And did that mysterious predator have even bigger teeth and a bigger mouth than T-Rex?

[Oztrich Boy]

So if T-Rex wasn’t at the top of the food-chain during its time, which dinosaur was?

Obviously the dino leaving all the carcasses that the large number of T.Rex were able to scavange from.

[CrazyIvan]

give these “scientists” 10 years they will claim 50% of t-rex were homosexuals

Well, they did have those little limp wristed forelegs.

[6SJ7]

When trying to figure the behavior of animals that died out 75 MILLION years ago, and only having a bunch of rock fossils to go on, this is all pretty much guesswork. Not so long ago, paleontologists had declared dinosaurs to be stupid, cold blooded, and slow moving. Now they’re believed to have been smart, warm blooded, and fast. Maybe T-rex was blue. Maybe green. Perhaps it was covered with feathers. It’s all not so much science as PR press releases.

[Huck]

Yup. The scavenger theory has been around for a while now. I like to think of em as giant crows.

[SunkenCiv]

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[ZULU]

"But a new census of all dinosaur skeletons unearthed over a large area of eastern Montana shows that Tyrannosaurus was too numerous to have subsisted solely on the dinosaurs it tracked and killed with its scythe-like teeth."

??????????????????????

THAT sounds like an IDIOTIC argument. The idea that there were more dead corpses just lying around for a bunch of scavenging T.rexes to devour and supporting a LARGER population than would all that LIVE meat walking around.

I think Little Jack Horner has spent too much time out in the sun digging.

If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck and smells like a duck, it ain't a horse and T.rex looks like a top predator to me.

[ZULU]

And for what its worth - Hyaneas make damn good predators.

[Silentgypsy]

Ha! At last, my big tail has been recognized as the key to my (relative) succes! Fie upon the naysayers! (Foo upon the nay sayers? Pfoo upon the nay-sayers?) Never mind.

[Flag_This]

"For what it is worth, I seen something like this on Discovery several years ago."

Horner was the guy pushing the idea on that program.

[TheOldLady]

Why else would they have gone extinct? It just makes sense.

</sarc>

[SunkenCiv]

:’)