RE: Comments?

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM>]

>From: Derek Tearne <derek@nezsdc.fujitsu.co.nz>
 > 
 > Most people have a visions of the Hyaena as being a dog sized animal,
 > a bit like a Great Dane.  Having seen a Hyaena loping along next to a 
 > car, it's haunches and head above roof level I can attest that they 
 > are large animals (the occupants of the car looking up at the head 
 > very nervously, undoubtedly wondering is it's true that Hyaena's jaws 
 > can cut through steel...).

There are several species of hyaena.  The one you describe above
is (I think) the spotted hyaena.

It is the largest species.  Others, like the brown hyaena, *are*
about dog sized.  The hyaena of the mid-east is the brown hyaena.

 > The largest male lions are the biggest of all and the documentary featured
 > a male lion who's role in the pride was Hyaena killer.  This particular 
 > individual was significantly larger than most of the other lions.

Yep, lions kill hyaenas, and hyaenas kill lions - both ways.
[Also, both species practice group hunting, so a solitary
individual of either species can be taken down by a pack of
the other species].
 > 
 > Male lions are larger than female lions (this is a unique situation 
 > among felines) however, when discussing competition between the two 
 > species one must remember that it is the _female_ lions who do the 
 > actual hunting.

This, however, is not strictly true.  The female lions do *more*
of the hunting, especially when they have cubs to care for, but
the males *do* hunt.

On PBS I saw one dramatic film of a pride of lions, led by the
dominant male, hunting zebra at night.  The actual kill was made
by the male - by means of the standard throat-crushing bite.
 > 
 > > Agreed. But is there conclusive evidence all small theropods didn't hunt
 > > in packs?
 > 
 > They might have hunted in packs so they must have?

Good point.  Right now it is mostly *unknown* whether any
theropod hunted in packs.  Some may have, but certainly not all
of them.

The only exception I know of, where the data is strongly suggestive,
is Coelophysis.  Here the large number of individuals at the
Ghost Ranch Quarry strongly suggests a pack mode of life.  (Even
this is not quite conclusive, as the quarry site is a "log-jam"
type mass burial, and may have involved some concentration of
scattered individuals).
 > 
 > Extrapolating on size also appears fraught with problems.  Most of 
 > the discussion about carnosaurs appears to be small = pack hunter 
 > (Dienonychus), large = solitary (Tyrannosaurus).  Yet modern analogues
 > would say large = pack hunter (Lion, Hyaena), small = solitary (Fox, 
 > domestic cat) with the medium sized ones employing either method.

Even that doesn't work :-)

Mongooses are pack hunters at times, and are on the small end
of the size range.
 > 
 > With mammals it would seem that most predators are solitary (or hunt 
 > as pairs).  
 > 
 > Perhaps it was the same with dinosaurs.

And probably was.

swf@elsegundoca.ncr.com         sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.