Re: T. rex eating habits

[ornstn@hookup.net (Ronald Orenstein)]

>Are any of the T. rex fossils sufficiently intact for hard objects in their
>digestive systems (if any) to be identified?  And if so, are there any bones
>in there?
>                                                               Bill Aldam
>

It strikes me that there may be reasonable evidence out there somewhere as
to how therapods (sensu extremely lato) dealt with prey.  There would seem
to be only three possibilities for prey items with large enough bones to
resist normal digestion:  either the carcass was stripped, the bones were
broken up by gizzard stones, or the bones were swallowed and either
regurgitated or passed through the system unharmed (I leave aside the
possibility that some dinosaurs may have deliberately broken bones for the
marrow; the living Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture does this, but its method
- dropping the bones from a great height - would not be particularly
feasible for a T. rex!).

I would think that these methods would produce quite different-looking
fossil remains of prey animals.  For example, articulated skeletons with
evidence of teeth scrapings on the bones would indicate that the carcass was
stripped; broken clumps of bone, or something resembling a giant fossil owl
pellet, would indicate one of the other methods.  Of course a given dino may
have used more than one method, or a modification such as hiding a prey item
until the flesh rotted sufficiently to be easily removed (as some crocodiles
do).
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
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