A REAL consequence of egg predation?

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@inforamp.net>]

[I hesitated on this, but it appears to be heading off in a different
 direction from the "non-stealthy egg" debate, so I'm not counting it
 as a part of that thread.  -- MR ]

A thought occurred to me after I completed my latest diatribe against Mr
Bois.  Mr Bois raised the spectre of the "big, mean" egg predator that
would pose a real risk to a sitting parent who tried to fight it off.  It
got me thinking, though.

The obvious reason I can think of for why this WOULDN'T happen is that dino
eggs were so small that the return in nutriment for a really large predator
(say another dino) might not be worth the risk of fighting off, say, a
brooding T. rex.  But then - could that be the reason, or a reason, why
dino eggs are small?  As a way of reducing the risk to a brooding adult of
being attacked for its eggs by something that could do it real damage?  On
the other hand, an egg the size of a Buick (that's an exaggeration, folks,
I know the surface/volume problems would kick in before it reached the size
of, say, a Volkswagen) might be a target really worth fighting for.

Just a thought... Fire away!
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116
1825 Shady Creek Court                 
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          Internet: ornstn@inforamp.net