Re: How would Tyrannosaurus approach a Triceratops?

[Eric Allen <erallen@yahoo.com>]

Unfortunatly, fossil evidence of behavior is
essentially nil.

Therefore, all we can do in this scenerio is little
more than speculation.

That said, let's speculate:

What a Triceratops (or another ceretopsian) would do
when coming across a Tyrannosaur is probably the more
difficult behavior to determine, as different animals
react to predators in different ways.  It might run
away.  It might turn and charge.  It might turn to
face its aggressor, plant its feet, and stand its
ground trying to intimidate the Tyrannosaur.  Its
behavior very well might also depend on its social
behavior (weather it was a herding animal or not, for
example) and if the unfortunate individual was near
its herd or seperated.
The scenerio I personally prefer is somewhere between
the "run away" and "stand your ground" scenerio, but
there is no reason either of them are more favorable
than any other.

The way a Tyrannosaur might approach a Triceratops
might be a little easier to decern (but not much)
primarily bacause predatory animals seem to generally
follow one particular rule:  ambush.  Why chase your
still healthy prey for long distances when you could
shorten your prey's run with a quick first strike.  My
guess would be that a Tyrannosaur would sneak along a
tree-line and stalk a Triceratops, then with a big and
cuick lunge and quick dash forward, it would attack
from the side and behind, biting at the flanks and
back, using its jaws to crush the spine, pelvis, or
leg and pin the Triceratops in place.
Even if Tyrannosaurs were "pack hunters," my guess
would be that the killing blow would come from the
side and behind as the prey was flushed into the trap
or worried to death by several "nips at its heels"  

The head-on charge where rex jaws grapple with trike
horns and frill seems just too...  
...counterintuitive.  To borrow a phrase from human
armed conflict, "a frontal assault would be suicide." 
When practically every predator alive today tries its
best to avoid causing harm to itself when subduing
prey, attacking the pointy end just doesn't seem the
best choice.

Just my $0.02

Eric Allen
Ph.D. canidate
University of Iowa



--- Mike Lima <taradosgon@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Would Triceratops really have charged a
> Tyrannosaurus
> like a Rhinoceros as sometimes depicted or
> immediately
> formed a defensive circle around infants? If so why
> and how would a Tyrannosaurus attack a Triceratops
> if
> even the sick and injured would be protected by
> others? Would a Triceratops have behaved more like
> African Buffalo do when they spot lions, initially
> running but turning and chasing the lions off after
> the lions tire?
> 
> 
>               
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