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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

T-Rex was the rugby team from "Alive"!

In this study from Yale, it is revealed that there are examples of Tyrannosaur bones which show bite marks from other Tyrannosaurs. Cannibalism in predators is far from unknown. However, this doesn't really give us any new insight on the issue of whether T. rex was a hunting predator or a scavenger. The bite marks appear to have been made post-mortem, and while analogous cannibalism occurs in the modern day after conflict between individuals, the fact that the bites are on extremities rather than on the core (where meat would be more plentiful) may imply that the marks are a result of scavenging post-mortem. So, we're left with more data (which is never a bad thing), but no clear balance one way or the other on the predator/scavenger debate.

Why is this important? Well, in propounding his own theory, Bill Watterson of "Calvin and Hobbes" gave us the best theory of all:

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