Carnivore breath

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>this raises an interesting point.  many current carnovores frequently eat
>grass and other plants to aid their digestion or for other reasons
>(like getting high on catnip).  why should we assume that dinosaur carnivores
>would not do the same?  maybe even some plants to quell that "dead hadrosaur
>breath" that T. rex had in the mornings?

Well, it is true that many mammalian carnivores eat some plant material,
for whatever reason.  However, is the same true for reptilian carnivores?
Does anyone out there know if crocs or varanid lizards occasionally choke
down a fern (or herb, or whatever)?

I have heard of a story where a crocodile at a zoo came on to shore to
snatch up a gingko fruit, but I can't remember where I heard it and so
can't corroborate it.  (That might explain something about gingko fruits -
they smell rotten to at least one mammalian species [humans], but maybe
they smell nice to reptilian noses...).

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist in Exile                  Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.