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The Fridge / T-rex: Predator or Scavenger
« on: July 30, 2013, 12:20:12 PM »
What Pangaea said. I remember someone commented a while back in a conversation on (IIRC) another forum, saying that they had actually talked to Horner... and they basically said that, though Horner still supports his theory, he doesn't really seem to believe it anymore. Interesting if true.
A lot of Horner's arguments never made sense to me, anyways... the "plodding giant" argument is silly because that's how I'd describe most of T. rex's prey, too. A balance of power has to be maintained in order for the foodchain to remain stable, so something would actually be wrong with the "big picture" if T. rex looked capable of taking down everything in its environment and then some. Look how often lions' hunts fail, for instance... no confirmed predator that we can observe today has a 1/1 or even 1/2 success ratio, it usually boils down to something like 1/20, even for obligate carnivores like the big cats. Lions (rexes) get outrun by zebras (hadrosaurs), may be charged and/or gored by buffalo (ceratopsains), and are nowhere near capable of taking down gazelles (ostrich-dinos) or elephants (sauropods). They still manage, though.
They have found evidence of T. rex eating the more "undesirable" parts of carcasses, eg. that Triceratops pelvis, but that's also kind of silly to use as evidence that it wasn't a hunter. Gray wolves will eat every part of a deer carcass, down to the hooves, not because they're "desperate scavengers" but because they're just very, very efficient at processing carcasses, including the ones they brought down themselves. It's just a matter of anatomy; other predators, like big cats, aren't equipped with the right "tools". T. rex was.
I have no doubt that T. rex scavenged whenever possible. Any smart animal will, if it has the stomach for it--it's a free source of nutrients with no risk that the owner is going to gore you, stab you with pointy hooves, etc. Heck, even giraffes, sheep, cows and deer have been known to munch on bones, roadkill, and even live birds (like grouse and poultry) when they can get them.
I also have no doubt that T. rex hunted sick and injured prey whenever possible. I don't even see why that would be a question, or would be read into as making T. rex a "weak" hunter, since this is extremely common and logical behavior in many modern predators (eg. lions, wolves)... and we do not think of them as "weak" hunters at all.
A lot of Horner's arguments never made sense to me, anyways... the "plodding giant" argument is silly because that's how I'd describe most of T. rex's prey, too. A balance of power has to be maintained in order for the foodchain to remain stable, so something would actually be wrong with the "big picture" if T. rex looked capable of taking down everything in its environment and then some. Look how often lions' hunts fail, for instance... no confirmed predator that we can observe today has a 1/1 or even 1/2 success ratio, it usually boils down to something like 1/20, even for obligate carnivores like the big cats. Lions (rexes) get outrun by zebras (hadrosaurs), may be charged and/or gored by buffalo (ceratopsains), and are nowhere near capable of taking down gazelles (ostrich-dinos) or elephants (sauropods). They still manage, though.
They have found evidence of T. rex eating the more "undesirable" parts of carcasses, eg. that Triceratops pelvis, but that's also kind of silly to use as evidence that it wasn't a hunter. Gray wolves will eat every part of a deer carcass, down to the hooves, not because they're "desperate scavengers" but because they're just very, very efficient at processing carcasses, including the ones they brought down themselves. It's just a matter of anatomy; other predators, like big cats, aren't equipped with the right "tools". T. rex was.
I have no doubt that T. rex scavenged whenever possible. Any smart animal will, if it has the stomach for it--it's a free source of nutrients with no risk that the owner is going to gore you, stab you with pointy hooves, etc. Heck, even giraffes, sheep, cows and deer have been known to munch on bones, roadkill, and even live birds (like grouse and poultry) when they can get them.
I also have no doubt that T. rex hunted sick and injured prey whenever possible. I don't even see why that would be a question, or would be read into as making T. rex a "weak" hunter, since this is extremely common and logical behavior in many modern predators (eg. lions, wolves)... and we do not think of them as "weak" hunters at all.