Re: New Nature paper on Tyrannosaur Locomotion

[Jeff Hecht <jeff.hecht@sff.net>]

At 7:32 PM -0600 2/27/02, Steve  Brusatte wrote:
> > The basic conclusion: big _T. rex_ specimens did not have sufficient muscle
> > mass to be able to produce a fast run. 
>
> Currie seemed very interested at the Burpee Museum this weekend in 
> the possibility that young members of a _Tyrannosaurus_ "herd" may 
> have done the majority of the hunting.  Speculation, of course, but 
> he points to the _Albertosaurus_ bone beds in Alberta as evidence 
> that tyrannosaurids may have been gregarious.  He extrapolated these 
> data to speculate that perhaps the more agile youngsters may have 
> done the hunting for the older, slower adults. 
That does raise some interesting possibilities, because T. rex 
retained some adaptations that could work for running in smaller 
versions, and Hutchinson's model shows that smaller tyrannosaurs 
might have been able to run. -- Jeff Hecht