Tyrannosaurus Rex: hunter or scavenger?

[Brandon Pilcher <trex_kid@hotmail.com>]

Sorry to bring up a trite question...but what is the consensus view on the 
feeding habits of Tyrannosaurus Rex?

I imagine T-Rex as a predator, stalking hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and 
sauropods in the jungle or woodlands and crouching in the undergrowth 
downwind, and then bursting out and pursuing them (or fighting them in the 
case of the ceratopsian) until it got a grip on the neck and then delivering 
a bone-shattering bite. However, I believe it would take carrion if 
necessary (as stale as rotting meat probably tastes).

A common reconstruction of T-Rex behavior by the "obligatory scavenger" camp 
is stealing prey from other theropods, but this does not seem realistic. The 
only other non-avaian predatory theropods known to coexist with T-Rex 
(Dromeosaurus, Chirostenotes, etc.) are very tiny, and while these animals 
could have hunted in packs, I doubt they would have brought down game big 
enough to feed a T-Rex. The size difference between these smaller theropods 
and T-Rex's probable preferred foods is similar to that between wild dogs 
and elephants, and wild dogs, if I recall correctly, do not usually attack 
elephants, pack-hunting strategies notwithstanding (I guess the fear of 
getting squashed suppresses all willingness to cooperate).

BTW, whatever happened to the allosauroids of North America in the Early 
Cretaceous (e.g. Acrocanthosaurus)? Did competition with tyrannosaurids 
eventually wipe them out, or did changing climate cause their extinction?

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