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Tyrannosaurus Rex as Scavenger
Tyrannosaurus rex has been characterized by some as a creature too large
to move quickly enough to bring down prey. Instead, they say, it was a
scavenger that looked for already-dead animals to feast upon. They suggest
that a good sense of smell alerted it to the presence of carrion in the
vicinity, which it then consumed at leisure, being large enough to scare
off any other scavengers.
While no carnivore passes up a free meal, it requires a stretch of the
imagination to envision the perfect hunting machine that was Tyrannosaurus
rex as a mere carrion-eater.
If Tyrannosaurus rex had been just a scavenger, would it have needed its
extremely powerful jaw muscles and rows of saber-like teeth? Would it have
needed its massive thigh musculature for lumbering around from carrion
to carrion?
And, why was it so large? Modern predators, such as lions and tigers are
much larger than scavengers, such as buzzards and hyenas. Tyrannosaurus
rex had all the equipment necessary to be a very efficient predator. Tyrannosaurus,
they say, moved quickly and struck hard.
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