"If not, what evidence gives them the conviction to state such opinions as athoritative fact rather than wild speculation?
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Skull details can tell a lot about the size and shape of the eyeball. Further, the position of the eyeballs in the skull, along with the grooves mentioned in the article can indicate what the animal's field of vision was.
As for the predator aspect, take a look at a cat or dog, then a rabbit. The predator has eyes that face forward, as do those of the T. Rex. That allows good 3-dimensional vision. The rabbit, on the other hand, has its eyes on the sides of its head. Their field of vision is almost 360 degrees, but they have poor 3-dimensional vision.
The prey animal has evolved to detect motion in a wide angled view. The predator animal has evolved to focus on the prey animal and track its movements.
Given a rabbit skull and a cat skull, any first year student can immediately identify which is the predator and which the prey.
Just to add to MinearlMan - herbivorous dinosaurs like horned dinosaurs,hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs), sauropods (long-necks) and Ankylosaurs, all had eyes on the sides of their head, giving them wider field of vision the better to see that TRex sneaking up behind them.....examination of the eye sockets in the skulls of Allosaurus, the top Jurassic predator, for example, shows that it had limited stereoscopic vision...90 million years later in the Cretaceous, its relatives, the Carcharodontosaurines (Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus), had much better stereoscopic vision per the same examination....if it works, it will be selected for...
A lot of the fraternity / sorority types couldn't. But in principle you are correct.
However, the original disputation was whether or not T-Rex was scavenger or active predator. I haven't yet heard anyone seriously suggest that on the whole T-Rex was primarily a prey species. Except possibly with respect to the Calvinosaur.
Cheers!