Re: [dinosaur] How to kill an adult Argentinosaurus

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Sat, Jan 18th, 2020 at 1:30 AM, Poekilopleuron <dinosaurtom2015@seznam.cz> 
wrote:

> I would like to know your opinions about how could - say - a group of adult
> 12 m long Mapusaurus individuals subdue and kill an 70+ tonnes
> Argentinosaurus? Was this virtually impossible or was there a possibility 
> like attacking a weak spot on its body, exhausting it with sustained attacks
> etc.? Thank you in advance! Tom
> 

Depending on the relative levels of stamina of the two species, the predators 
might have tried harrying 
the sauropod to exhaustion to reduce its ability to fight back (like modern 
canids). If they could panic the 
sauropod enough then it might even stumble and fatally injure itself while 
trying to flee. That all assumes 
that a 70 tonne sauropod could be harried or panicked in the first place, 
rather than confidently standing 
its ground.

If I was a large theropod wanting a meal of sauropod, I'd probably just follow 
the herd around until one 
died of natural causes. I'd rather take my chances fending off other 3 tonne 
scavengers than risk being 
smashed to a pulp by a 70 tonne behemoth.

-- 
Dann Pigdon