Re: Experts had thought only herbivores hunted in packs...

[crnoto@midway.uchicago.edu (Chris Noto)]

>Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 17:51:42 -0600
>From: "Michael A. Turton" <turton@ev1.net>
>Reply-To: turton@ev1.net
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>To: Chris Noto <crnoto@midway.uchicago.edu>
>Subject: Re: Experts had thought only herbivores hunted in packs...
>
>
>
>Chris Noto wrote:
>
>> I agree, wouldn't the flood scenario leave a large amount of other taxa in
>> the mix as well?  As for the tar pit idea, wouldn't that result in a unique
>> kind of matrix around the bones, considering that tar is different from
>> normal detrital accumulation of sediment?  Perhaps what we are witnessing
>> here is not so much a huge herd of tyrannosaurs, but perhaps a seasonal
>> rookery or mating group.  Just because they are together now, doesn't mean
>> that they stayed in large groups such as this all the time.  Anyways,
>> wouldn't it be very hard for such a large group of predators to sustain
>> itself?
>>
>> Chris
>
>I don't know.  I suppose it depends on their metabolic requirements.  But
>if they
>are hunting animals as large as they are -- and I don't think they are hunting
>large sauropods, simply because offhand I can't think of any predator today
>that routinely takes animals five times heavier than itself, cept maybe orcas,
> --then I would say it is a possibility, sure a group could sustain itself.
>But then why hunt in packs if your prey is only your size or a little larger?
>Where's the need? I always pictured them as sort of ambush hunters, popping
>out of the trees to nail a passing hadrosaur.  It boggles the imagination to
>picture
>them as sort of velociraptors blown up to the nth scale, hunting 20 or 30 or 40
>ton
>dinosaurs in packs.  And how many ambush predators hunt in packs today?
>Lions, I suppose, and crocs on occasion.  Birds forage carrion in packs,
>but they
>don't hunt in them.....
>
>Gosh, it seems tyrannosaurs were easier when we didn't have so much
>information,
>and we could just argue about whether they were scavengers or predators.
>
>Hadn't thought about the seasonal rookery/mating group idea.  Seems like an
>excellent alternative.  Did you suggest it to the list?
>
>Mike