RE: More tyrant Q & A's

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. [SMTP:th81@umail.umd.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 1998 8:10 AM
> To:   dinosaur@usc.edu
> Cc:   Stewart, Dwight
> Subject:      More tyrant Q & A's
> 
> Here's more on tyrannosaur questions.
> 
> Dwight Stewart writes:
> >How strong is the evidence for dimorphism in Tyrannosaurus rex?
> 
> Dwight also wrote:
> >To me this would tend to
> >indicate a potential
> >     for "social interaction" among Tyrannosaurs that might fit more of a
> >hyiena model
> >     than an African lion model.
> 
> I don't see how that would follow, especially as how hyenas (or spotted
> hyenas, at least) have a fairly peculiar social organization, at least (if
> not more) complex than lions.
> 
> 
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
> Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
> University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
> College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661
        ###################

           I shouldn't have used mammals as an example.  I thought about
that later. :-)  But, aren't male crocodiles larger than females?  I know
there are birds in which the females are larger.   My point was that I have
heard the African lion analogy used a few times to compare Tyrannosaurs &
THAT analogy seems wholly untenable.  African male lions outweigh the
females by ~ 20-30%.  So, if Tyrannosaurus rex males were smaller (& I think
the evidence supports this) the "lion strategy"
        wouldn't seem to hold.  Or perhaps T.rex had no permanent social
interaction with its own genus except at mating time???

        Thanks,
        Dwight