Re: Natural enemies

["TRUETT GARNER" <DINOBOY@worldnet.att.net>]

----------
> From: Jaime A. Headden <qilongia@yahoo.com>
>
>  Truett Garner wrote
> 
> <Without any doubt, Velociraptor mongoliensis and Protoceratops
> andrewsi were natural enemies, as proved by the "fighting dinosaurs"
> fossil foun in Mongolia.>

> Jaime Headden replied

>   I disagree. More associations between two taxa have been found in
> *Oviraptor* and *Protoceratops* than with any dromaeosaur and the
> fantastic griffin-sheep of the Gobi; Keilan-Joworowska's find of a
> fighting pair of two animals only agrees that one may have killed the
> other, and then died by burial (for it cannot be proven that Veloci
> was killed by Proto). The proto was probably a threat to _everyone_ in
> the Gobi, being a possible egg-eating, nine-foot, fast-running,
> demon-with-a-beak herbivore!
> 
I totally agree that there are more Oviraptor/Protoceratops associations,
but there is no concrete evidence that the Proto and Oviraptor were in
direct
confrontation , much less that the Proto was an egg-eater .The fossil
record
does seem to indicate that it's possible, but we don't have any tangible
proof.


>   And then there is the Two Medicine Formation in Montana, USA, where
> *Troodon* was probably the major threat to *Maiasaura* hatchlings, and
> *Albertosaurus* the only extant predator _capable_ of bringing down
> the hadrosaur.
> 
Troodon was more of a threat to Orodromeus , being that their remains were
found in such close
association (see ' Dinosaur Lives ' J. Horner , 1997) . Again we have no
firm evidence . Varanid lizards
could have been more of a threat in this case . Albertosaurus and
Daspletosaurus were capable of 
dispatching hadrosaurs and ceratopsians , but again we have no proof that
they in fact did so .
After being flammed in the ' pack predator ' debate, I find it safer to go
with hard evidence . 
And, yes I do speculate on a lot of predator/prey scenarios , and I agree
with the ones
mentioned, but there just isn't enough evidence to conclusively state, as
fact ,  that any of them were in direct confrontation
with the other.

Regards , Truett Garner