Tyrannosaurus Rex - Hunter or Scavenger?

[DinosaurMichael]

So I just finished watching Valley of the T-Rex and though I accept Jack Horner's opinion about T-Rex being just a scavenger. I still think T-Rex was both a Predator and a Scavenger.



So what do you guys think T-Rex is in your opinion. A Hunter, Scavenger or Both?

[Super Communist]

I believe its been stated that its impossible for any terrestrial animal to be totally reliant on carrion. Since tyrannosaurus was a four to nine ton, warm blooded, animal that lived in area full of smaller and much more efficient scavengers, it sounds very, very unlikely, that it was a total scavenger; unless ceratopsians and hadrosaurs had the life span and reproductive abilities of flies.

[Anomonyous]

D'oh. Even Jack Horner, I think, relinquished THAT bovine scat theory. Plainly when there is a crapload of fossil proof indicting that Tyrannosaurus hunted large coexisting dinosaurs it CANNOT be a pure scavenger.

This Edmontosaurus had a chip of its tail chomped out. The wound healed (and anyway, what 7-9 ton theropod would eat that little anyway?), indicating this was a failed predation attempt.
A triceratops was found with a bitten off horn and raking wounds on the frill; these were in the process of healing although the Triceratops may not have survived for much longer afterwards for whatever reasons, seeing as the horn was not, if I am correct, near fully regrown.

[Anomonyous]

archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/guest-post-love-the-tyrant-not-the-hype/#more-6328
Tyrannosaurus' feet, in addition to its legs and hips, were built to help it attain higher speeds. Looks like they may also have made the theropod more agile, indicating it wasn't such a slow poke at turning after all.
On top of it, Tyrannosaurus would have had a good sense of balance, likely vital for an animal of its size that runs down prey.

[Venomous Dragon]

Probably an opportunist. Hunted when it needed to but I doubt it turned its nose up at a carcass.

[Anomonyous]

If someone were to ask me, "Is Tyrannosaurus a hunter or scavenger?", I'd say hunter - after all, if you replaced "Tyrannosaurus" with Panthera Leo or Crocodylus niloticus, I see little reason to say opportunist. There's no need to cast a shadow of doubt on Tyrannosaurus' hunting abilities or anything.
If they asked me if Tyrannosaurus was a pure scavenger, opportunist, or pure hunter, however, I would say opportunist every time, since that's the most specific position Tyrannosaurus fulfilled.

[Venomous Dragon]

realistically the vast majority of predators are opportunist, and the words are pretty much interchangeable, I only use opportunist because it is the most accurate.

[Anomonyous]

Exactly. However, scavenger is generally used to refer to an animal which almost purely scavenges.

[Ultimategrid]

When people suggest that a nine ton, warm blooded predator could survive on carrion alone, it just makes me laugh.
I remember reading that starvation is one of the leading causes of death in VULTURES, 20lb animals who feed exclusively on carrion, and have the power of flight.
Considering that even a 20lb bird has to work hard in order to prevent starvation, I don't think an animal nine hundred times larger could do any better.

[Anomonyous]

Aug 4, 2012 4:51:01 GMT -5 @jumbo1 said:

T-rex may not have been a speedfreak but neither were the herbivores that lived alongside it.

Well I gave numerous sources and reasoning for it being a fairly fast animal, and I doubt the hadrosaurs and ceratopsians were slow either.
archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/20....hype/#more-6328

[rhino]

T-rex did both. It's possible older individuals may have scavenged more than they hunted in the same way lions do. They are the biggest predators in their environment so they can just bully away all the smaller competition.
All this bashing against Jack Horner is uncalled for. I disagree with him but I understand where he is coming from. He was simply trying to get across a new perspective and analysis. Speak out against all the hype for this animal.

There is evidence that T-rex hunted babies rather than the adults. Like all predators it is opportunistic and will not hunt healthy adults in their prime when there are weaker animals available.
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090811-t-rex-dinosaurs-bully.html Straight from the experts of National Geographic.

[Godzillasaurus]

Hunter for completely obvious reasons:

Tyrannosaurids were the dominant terrestrial macro predators during the latest parts of the Cretaceous

Very powerful hind legs

Powerful bite and robust skull which was highly resistant to both lateral and vertical force (high bending and breaking points)

Robust and serrated dentition (both this and the skull morphology constitutes adept predation on animals of similar size)

Acute eyesight/binocular vision

These features do not mean that it did not eat carrion in life, but it was most definitely a predator more than anything

It's possible older individuals may have scavenged more than they hunted in the same way lions do. They are the biggest predators in their environment so they can just bully away all the smaller competition.

This is illogical to believe; tyrannosaurus would have had increased snout and dental robusticity with age and size (young tyrannosaurids would have considerably more gracile jaws). Unlike lions, tyrannosaurus would have had its teeth replaced a multitude of times throughout life, so its bite losing potency with age is hypothetical and mostly inaccurate.

[Dinopithecus]

Both.

I don't see how anyone can still argue for a pure scavenging lifestyle when there are convincing arguments that come in different forms (reason/logic, examples from other cases, and even direct evidence) that support the idea that T.rex hunted live prey. Anyone who still thinks otherwise is either ignorant, biased, or both.

[creature386]

Yeah, there really isn't much to debate.

[Godzillasaurus]

Hey theropod's back!