Re: Tyrannosaur hunter-gatherers?

[Dino Guy and Computer Gal <gbabcock@best.com>]

It is the younger tyrannosaurs that were light and long legged enough to truly
run, with hind limbs nearly identical to those of ornithomimids.  Philip Currie
has studied a number of young albertosaurs (some of which had initially been
identified as ornithomimids!) and postulates that the albertosaur juveniles
might have run prey individuals into the waiting jaws of the slower but more
powerful large adults.  This was the basis for the lively tyrannosaurs seen in
"When Dinosaurs Roamed America."  The hypothesis is unproved, of course, but in
my opinion is quite plausible, although it does require a good degree of
coordinated behavior on the part of the tyrannosaurs.

-- Ralph W. Miller III   ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu