Post by abacus9900 on Feb 11, 2011 20:48:13 GMT 1
We have grown up being told that T-Rex was a fierce hunter but if you look at the evidence this poses some real problems. T-Rex's arms were not designed to grasp or damage prey, its shin bone was a bit longer than its thigh bone which is contrary to smaller predators who appear to have been fast runners, so T-Rex may have been more of a walker than runner. There were no cutting claws on either T-Rex's hands or feet and it seems T-Rex did not possess a keen sense of sight yet its sense of smell was very acute. Also, T-Rex would have been in serious trouble of damaging itself irreparably due to its great weight if it fell, further raising doubts as to whether it chased down prey.
T-Rex's olfactory lobes are relatively large even for such a huge animal, proportionally equal to that of a vulture (a scavenger). So, it would have been able to smell carrion from great distances thus avoiding the need to run down faster prey and risking self-damage. All in all there seems to be little or no evidence that it was a predator at all.
Presumably when T-Rex was first discovered it was assumed it was a predator due to its huge jaws and huge teeth. We know it ate meat and crushed bones but this may have occurred after something else made a kill. A huge jaw and teeth are no good unless you can actually catch prey. There are still gaps in the evidence but if in fact T-Rex was at least part-predator the evidence has yet to be presented.
T-Rex's olfactory lobes are relatively large even for such a huge animal, proportionally equal to that of a vulture (a scavenger). So, it would have been able to smell carrion from great distances thus avoiding the need to run down faster prey and risking self-damage. All in all there seems to be little or no evidence that it was a predator at all.
Presumably when T-Rex was first discovered it was assumed it was a predator due to its huge jaws and huge teeth. We know it ate meat and crushed bones but this may have occurred after something else made a kill. A huge jaw and teeth are no good unless you can actually catch prey. There are still gaps in the evidence but if in fact T-Rex was at least part-predator the evidence has yet to be presented.