Re: T. rex eating habits

[jshields@iol.ie (James Shields)]

>  >     Did T.rex eat things whole, bones and all?

> This is based mostly on general size factors, and is just an educated
> guess.  In reality, we do not know, since we cannot watch T. rex eat.

The closest living examples, which we can watch, are crocodiles. Crocs tear
off large chunks of meat which they toss back in their jaws and swallow
whole. So far as I know these don't include bone.

Tyrannosaurids had teeth which are even more suitable for tearing flesh, but
absolutely useless when it comes grinding or chewing. Their only hope would
be to use their massive jaw bones and the great weight of their skull to
smash through bones and swallow the pieces whole. Losing a few teeth
wouldn't be a problem as they always had new ones growing in reserve.

My own theory is that small bones wouldn't bother them, so a small dinosaur,
or parts thereof could be eaten whole. It would be easy enough for it to
tear the flesh off larger bones without having to either break or swallow them.

Haven't bones of plant eaters been found with tooth marks? Have any of these
been matched to predators?

James Shields  -  jshields@iol.ie  -  http://www.iol.ie/~jshields
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And Elvis checked out his own cabin and shook his head saying "poky".
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