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

[sean.kerns@sdrc.com (Snake)]

Forwarded message:
> 
> On 11/28/94 Sean Kerns Wrote:
> > Anyone have any comments on this? I saw a Paleoworld episode >recently
> >in which Jack Horner asserts that he believes that T. Rex (and by
> >association, all tyrannosaurids?) were not in fact predators, but
> >instaed were essentially gigantic vultures...
> 
> With all due respect to Jack Horner:  If T-Rex and all other tyrannosaurids
> were just big vultures, Why did Triceratops and Torosaurus, among others,
> evolve such elaborate and formidible defensive weapons.  Did T-Rex see a

Well, I guess that to reconcile that inconsistency, you also have to be
from the camp who believe that all those horns and spikes weren't for
defense at all, but were merely "sexual advertising devices". I can 
agree with that on some dino gewgaws, like the crests on Dilophosaurus,
but I don't believe for a minute that the horns on the ceratopsians or
the spikes on ankylosaurs and stegosaurs were not used for defense at
all, but were purely sexual. One can achieve flambouyance a lot more
safely...


> 
[stuff snipped]

> Bill Hunt  -  Frustrated Marine Biologist  -  Happy Artist
> 2780 Chaparral Lane
> Paso Robles,  CA  93446     -    805-237-0733  
> E-Mail   WillSculpt@aol.com
> 


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|    Sean R. "Snake" Kerns              e-mail: sean.kerns@sdrc.com |  
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