Re: Carnivores and Packs

[ornstn@hookup.net (Ronald Orenstein)]

>A cursorial hunter couldn't hunt ceratopsians or rhinoes or other
>such things, either.  Cursorial hunters depend on prey that tries
>to run away, and tricers don't seem like they'd run - like rhinos,
>I'd expect them to face down a predator. Even in this day and age,
>nothing hunts rhinos but man, not even lions willing to take on
>elephants and cape buffalo. It certainly seems to me that a sol-
>itary t-rex would have a very hard time against a triceratops,
>even with that large-scale ginsu bite...

Spotted Hyenas will take on rhino calves, as will lions (National Geographic
has filmed this).  Dr. Joel Berger has data suggesting that in areas in
Namibia where rhino horns have been experimentally removed and these
predators exist, calf mortality is 100% within the first year.

On the thylacine, Walker's Mammals of the World (5th ed.) says this: "The
thylacine seems to have been mostly solitary but sometimes reportedly hunted
in pairs or small family groups.  It was said to trot relentlessly after its
prey until the victim was exhausted and then to close in with a rush."

On the idea that a species has to be highly intelligent to be a pack hunter
- well, depends what you mean by pack hunting.  Organized wolf-style packs,
maybe - but lots of less intelligent beasts, from sharks and piranhas to
army ants, can overwhelm prey by sheer numbers.   Three or four T-rex's
attacking the same beast might not make a team, but I wouldn't want to be
the victim!
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116 (home)
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