Re: Sexual dimorphism in T. rex

[Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu (Rob Meyerson)]

>But why larger females?  Males in many species are larger because they
>rival over the females.  But if the larger rexes ARE females, this may
>tell us something about the mating habits of T. rex.  A larger body
>capacity in female T-rexes may indicate that she needed more room to hold
>her eggs.  Or maybe the males had no need to fight over the females --
>could the females have selected their own mates?  But one interesting
>thing is that if the females were many feet higher than the males, and
>much larger, he may have had difficulty mating with her.  But as all
>animals do, the male rexes would have found a way.
>
>The T. rex females, if they were larger and more robust than the males,
>may tell us some interesting stuff about T. rex life.  Maybe T. rexes were
>social, and hunted in mating pairs.  To me, they seem like the kind of
>predator that would work together and maintain a good mating-couple
>relationship.  If the male was bad to the female, she could have easily
>done him in.
>
>But why sexual dimorphism in T. rex??
>
>Raptor RKC (Rachel Clark)

Actually, in most birds, the female is usually slightly larger than the
male.  Granted, I'm assuming that birds are dinosaurs, but I suspect that
it's a reasonable assumption

Rob