Cooperating theropods?

["Larry Dunn" <larrydunn@hotmail.com>]

"Ralph Miller III" <gbabcock@best.com> wrote:

>As Karen Chin relates on pages 373-374 of _The Complete Dinosaur_, 
Maxwell
>and Ostrom have described 15 different Lower Cretaceous sites in 
Montana
>with _Deinonychus_ teeth and _Tenontosaurus_ bones together, but few if 
any
>sites associating _Deinonychus_ teeth with the remains of other prey
>genera.  The implication is that _Deinonychus_ fed preferentially on 
the
>much, much larger _Tenontosaurus_, an animal which would presumably be 
too
>large for only one of these dromaeosaurs to subdue on its own, and so,
>assuming the dromaeosaurs weren't merely scavenging at all of these 
sites,
>these assemblages suggest group hunting on the part of _Deinonychus_. 

I've read this often as an indication that Deinonychus preyed upon 
Tenontosaurus, but I wonder how this evidence of feeding (if that's what 
it is) suggests predation.  I think there's a step missing there.  Isn't 
it more likely that these were post-flood (or other) scavenging 
scenarios?  Dead bodies of large animals found with the teeth of small 
carnivorous animals . . .

I personally can't visualize several of the (at most) several hundred 
pound Deinonychus attacking a (at least) several thousand pound 
Tenontosaur, any more than I can see a pack of wild dogs attacking an 
adult Water Buffalo.

>I also recall mention of a trackway suggesting that a group of 
sauropods
>was pursued by a group of large theropods (possibly something like
>_Allosaurus_), but I have no ref., so we'll have to see if someone else 
can
>come up with more information... 

Going back to tiny-brained Oras, they'd leave the same kind of tracks -- 
several Oras may follow one pursuing a wounded boar, but this dosen't 
indicate flexible, cooperative attack strategies like those employed by 
wolves or even wild dogs (which don't really strategize the way wolves 
do).

Maybe the allosaurs were working together.  Maybe Deinonychus did hunt 
in packs. Modern analogs only go so far.  I just don't think the 
evidence, viewed conservatively,  moves the needle very far in that 
direction.

Larry

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