RE: teeth and hunting strategies

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> T Hammann
>
> Hi all,
>
> is there someone who knows more about the possible hunting
> strategies of the big
> Allosaurids (like Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus or
> Acrocanthosaurus)?
>
> I've read that the teeth (flat and blade-like) could tell a lot about the
> possible hunting behaviour of these species.
>
> Thanks for informations...
>

Well, yes and no.  Properly speaking, you can't tell too much about the
hunting behaviour as such, because many features of hunting (locating prey,
stalking, group coordination (if any), etc.) involve features other than the
teeth.

What the teeth, jaws, claws, etc. do provide is some evidence on how food
items were seized, dispatched, and processed.

Flat, blade-like (aka "ziphodont", to use the technical term) teeth are
useful for slashing and ripping, but less useful at absorbing side-to-side
forces than (for example) the conical teeth of spinosaurids or the
incrassate (fat) teeth of advanced tyrannosaurids.  Probably related to
this, allosaurids lack the well developed bony palate (roof of the mouth)
found in tyrannosaurids and (developed by a different configuration) in
spinosaurids.

Work by Arthur Busbey has suggested that the development of the bony palate
in crocodylomorphs was an adaptation to absorb the lateral and torsional
stresses invoked by some of the various feeding strategies of crocs.  I have
advocated a similar case for theropods: the primitive theropod condition,
like the primitive crocodylomorph condition, was one dominated by vertical
slicing and shearing, but little lateral motion.  In advanced
crocodylomorphs, spinosaurids, and tyrannosaurids more lateral and torsional
motions (of the head and/or of the prey) were accomodated by reinforcing the
skull and thickening the teeth.

Hope this helps.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.inform.umd.edu/SCHOLAR/programs/elt.html
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796