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T.rex
> > Is it taken for granted that dinosaurs had a mammalian
> > type physiology?
>
> No, but the most recent evidence supports it.
> This evidence is so new, and so subtle, it is not widely known.
You're quite right, I have overlooked this isotope data - could you post a
reference for this?
>
> All you have done is point out that *no* large predator refuses
> carrion when it is available.
> >
Which is exactly my point - when the whole data set (large terrestrial
predators) is examined, the conclusion that T.rex was a predator with possible
additional scavenging is strengthened. It is surely still appropriate to
consider all available data rather than a subset.
> > (Incidently, I have also heard that Sue had a healed fracture
> > of a hind leg - can anybody explain how a large biped with
> > mammalian endothermic metabolism could survive long enough
> > without food for such a serious injury to heal?)
>
> Who said she had no food?
>
> Who is making assumptions now? Modern large endotherms
> do manage to survive serious injuries, either by eating
> carrion while healing, or by being fed by pack mates.
> And there is certainly no reason why T. rex could not have
> run in packs - its prey certainly did - there is conclusive
> evidence that both hadrosaurs and ceratopsians were herd animals.
>
Yes, I agree many, possibly most, dinosaurs were certainly social herd animals.
However, my point about the relative absence of carrion still stands - T. rex
and relatives must have swallowed food in large chunks, not picked at
carcasses. I find it very hard to accept social feeding of an injured
conspecific in T.rex or any other reptile. Perhaps the injury was not so
severe as to restrict mobility - I am going on third hand reports concerning
Sue. It does seem clear that some very interesting data is being denied us,
and may even be destroyed, by the arguments over this fossil.