Posted on 07/27/2014 6:46:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The collective noun is a terror of tyrannosaurs: a pack of the prehistoric predators, moving and hunting in numbers, for prey that faced the fight of its life.
That tyrannosaurs might have hunted in groups has long been debated by dinosaur experts, but with so little to go on, the prospect has remained firmly in the realm of speculation.
But researchers in Canada now claim to have the strongest evidence yet that the ancient beasts did move around in packs.
At a remote site in north-east British Columbia - in the west of Canada - they uncovered the first known tyrannosaur trackways, apparently left by three animals going the same way at the same time...
The footprints were so well-preserved that even the contours of the animals' skin were visible. "You start wondering what it would have been like to have been there when the tracks were made. The word is terror. I wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley at night," McCrea said.
From the size of the footprints, the researchers put the beasts in their late 20s or early 30s a venerable age for tyrannosaurs. The depth of the prints and other measurements suggest the tracks were left at the same time. They date back to nearly 70m years ago.
Close inspection of the trackways found that the tyrannosaur that left the first set of prints had a missing claw from its left foot, perhaps a battle injury. Details of the study are published in the journal Plos One.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
subtitle "Discovery of three sets of dinosaur trackways in Canada reveals that predators were running together".
Thanks Renfield.
The stub arms might have been vestigial wings.
With frickin lasers on their heads!!!!!
How much would Dr. Evil pay for one of those?
So they are not lone scavengers who needed a huge territory to themselves??
These theories change too much. I thought that science was settled, darn it.
Theories are based on evidence, and more evidence is found all the time. It’s not handed down in stone.
I think its possible that some hunted or even scavenged alone while others travelled in packs. Like the lions where the dominant male has booted out some rivals.
LGBT Trannyosaurs with lasers on their heads!!
Hunt in packs and strike terror in everyone!
Their relatives the velociraptors hunted in packs, so this does make sense.
That must have been taught in art school. /badumpdump
Wow. A pack of 7 ton monsters terrorizing herbivores. The 8 year old kid in me is giddy at the thought. I subscribe to the theory that they could run and weren’t slow scavengers.
That injury to one of them fits your idea very well.
Actually, it IS handed down in stone... Roflol
You may be correct. Personally, I like to think that they subsisted on chocolate and peanut butter, but I have no evidence - except for those Reeses wrappers that were carbon dated to the Jurassic period.
I like my idea too. :p
Knockout game?
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