Re: T-rex predation

["Dictator-for-life Calvin" <MWEDEL@gslan.offsys.ou.edu>]

I don't know too much about energy budgets, etc., but offhand I can't 
think of any modern ecosystems where the *largest* carnivore is 
primarily a scavenger.  IMHO (and I'm sure that several have 
expressed this point before me), tyrannosaurs seem WAY overdesigned 
for scavenging.

I've got a couple of questions.  First, I'm primarily interested in 
the Lower Cretaceous and my knowledge of the Late Cretaceous lacks 
depth.  That said, I have the impression that the spectrum of 
late K carnivores has dromaeosaurs at the small end, tyrannosaurs at 
the large end, and not a whole lot in between.  Is this accurate?  
And if so, if the tyrannosaurs were just scavengers, who was doing 
the predation?  Is it realistic to suppose that dromaeosaur packs 
were the main predators of multi-ton ceratopids, hadrosaurs, and 
ankylosaurs?

Before somebody flames me regarding dromaeosaur capabilities, I 
certainly think that a pack could take down a lone individual from 
one of the above groups (well, maybe not the ankylo), but I just 
can't see them doing ALL the bladework.

There's my two cents,
Matt Wedel