Re: T-Rex a Scavenger?!? (fwd)

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

sj@io.com wrote:
 > On Tue, 29 Nov 1994, Stan Friesen wrote:
 > > 
 > > Yes, but mostly only as a last resort, when cornered or surrounded.
 > > They all prefer to run away if possible.
 > 
 > Hrm. Not all horn-bearing herbivores prefer to run away. Think of the
 > domestic bull. Or the rhino. These are creatures that can do huge damage
 > with a charge . . . and they will. 

I believe that the domestic bull *will* run from ordinary predators,
it is just too used to hmans to think of them that way.

Still, your point is well taken, there are exceptions.
 > 
 > Further rank speculation: Few targets would stand up to such an attack. A
 > predator of any size, charged by, say, Triceratops, would flee. The
 > occasional slow or unlucky victim that was actually caught by the charge
 > would be first gored and then - except for the hugest targets - trampled
 > into mush by the irritable horn-faces. Which does not leave much of a
 > fossil record . . . 
 > 
In this regard, the film I saw of the wolves taking down a muskox
is again relevent.  The muskox has substantial, even if relatively
small, horns, and can be quite dangerous in a fight.  This is why
the wolves were doing a harrying attack, rather than an outright
charge.  As it was, one of the wolves was injured anyway.  [I suspect
that it was only due to the nearly complete lack of other prey that
far north during the winter that made the wolves desperate enough
to take this risk].

I would say that a T. rex would tend to avoid attacking a healthy
adult Triceratops unless it was desperate.  Besides, Edmontosaurus
and Anatotitan were both almost as common as Triceratops, and far
less dangerous!


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

The peace of God be with you.