"Tyrannosaurus was not strictly a predator"

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

Something jumped out at me that seemed unusual in the latest on the Hell Creek 
fauna, Horner, Goodwin and Myrhvold (2011):

"This census suggests that *Tyrannosaurus* was not strictly a predator, but 
instead more of an opportunistic feeder, possibly selecting similar food 
choices under circumstances comparable to that of hyenas in extant ecosystems, 
a trend unrecognized in earlier census studies."

  How many papers were published, or articles in books written, to describe 
precisely this following Horner's seminal argument in _The Complete T. rex_ and 
the follow-up paper in 1994 (cited below), rejecting the sole-scavenger 
hypothesis? In citing a response to this hypothesis (Ruxton and Houston), they 
merely affirm positive capability of scavenging sustainability through carrion 
(by using a copy-and-paste model of Serengeti = Hell Creek) and do not cite 
other, more numerous contradictions of the sole-scavenger hypothesis. This has 
the added effect of affirming the work as a contradictor (as quoted above) of 
the sole-scavenger hypothesis presented by the first author.

Horner, J. R. 1994. Steak knives, beady eyes, and tiny little arms (a portrait 
of *Tyrannosaurus* as a scavenger). _The Paleontological Society Special 
Publication_ 7:157–164.
Ruxton, G. D. & Houston, D. C. 2003. Could *Tyrannosaurus rex* have been a 
scavenger rather than a predator? An energetics approach. _Proceedings of the 
Royal Society of London, Biology_ 270:731–733.

Also, as seen here 
http://qilong.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/tyrannosaurs-dont-all-have-bananas-for-teeth/
 something else jumped out at me, but not so unusual. Rather par for the 
course, but treated as unusual.

Cheers,

  Jaime A. Headden
  The Bite Stuff (site v2)
  http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)