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Tyrannosaurus rex was clearly a large carnivore, and therefor ate other dinosaurs. However, Jack Horner believes that T-rex were not hunters, and that they instead scavenged for food. Some of his evidence includes that T-rex had an incredibly large part of the brain designated to its sense of smell, and therefor could detect carrion from miles away. They also had bone crunching teeth, which are characteristic of some scavengers. Also, a Triceratops pelvis bone was found with tooth marks from T-rex on it. Because that is a hard part to get to, the T-rex was probably just trying to get

any last piece of meat off the bones because the carcass had already been mostly consumed. That seems unlikely if the T-rex had killed it, because it would have had plenty to it without those last scraps.

However, fossils of Edmontosaurus show tail bones that were damaged by T-rex teeth, but had time to heal before the Edmontosaurus died. If T-rex only scavenged, the Edmontonsaurus wouldn't have been bitten until after it died, and therefor couldn't have healed.

To me, it seems clear that T-rex was like many modern predators (IE, lions, hyenas, etc). It hunted, but it also took the opportunity for a 'free meal' whenever it could.

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15y ago

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