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T.rex



>  > > 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.

 Well, who, other than another T. rex, is going to challenge a
> a T. rex for carrion?  Even an injured animal like "Sue" could
> have preempted a carcass from anything less than another T. rex.
> 
> So, in years in which carcasses are plentiful for some reason,
> an injured endother could survive adequately, if poorly, on carrion
> alone.  [Now, in "carcass lean" years, things would be different].
Sure.  My original question assummed (I should have been more explicit) a more 
serious injury preventing walking for a few weeks or so- a leg fracture in a 
biped is obviously more serious than for a quadruped.  A T.rex with a limp is 
still a formidable animal and could probably take care of itself.

> 
>  > I find it very hard
>  > to accept social feeding of an injured conspecific in T.rex or any
>  > other reptile.
> 
> Part of the point is that dinosaurs seem to have been socially
> more like birds than like reptiles.  Instead of imagining T. rex
> as a reptile, imagine it as a great big flightless bird.  Is it
> really that hard to see social sharing now?
> 
> Of course, there is no real evidence of social interaction in
> T. rex as of yet, but it is closely related to forms with known
> social interactions - living birds+

This still doesn't convince me - actually, I already see birds as endothermic, 
flying reptiles (like pterosaurs), and in any case complex social behaviour is 
widespread in other modern ectothermic reptiles.  However, altruistic food 
provision between adults is very rare, even in modern endotherms (I mean, do 
ostriches care for an injured adult? or bears?).  Presumably such extreme 
altruism could only arise via kin selection, which suggests extensive obligate 
parental care and family group structures, which is more than can be read into 
herding behaviour or even nesting behaviour.