Re: late night thoughts: misunderstand what?

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Would you mind being more specific about what I misunderstand?

Sure:

> > I understand that consensus is that when T. rex proper was in full flower
> > sauropods were getting kind of scarce... might have been one 
> > prey/predator
> > race where the predator won.

It was the other way around. First sauropods became scarce or extinct in 
North America, then they reappeared, and then *T. rex* evolved. Your 
scenario requires that *T. rex* appeared first, and then sauropods became 
rarer and rarer and then died out.

Tyrannosaurids don't look at all like specialized sauropod-hunters. From 
such an animal I'd expect the ability to make huge wounds in a short time 
and then retreat. This is what carnosaurs, especially carcharodontosaurids, 
look like. Tyrannosaurs were pursuit-and-bite predators. Sauropods don't run 
away, and staying to fight with a sauropod is ill-advised.

Furthermore, the geographical overlap of tyrannosaurids and sauropods is 
limited.

And there's no evidence for an arms race...