Re: sauropod killers

["TRUETT GARNER" <DINOBOY@worldnet.att.net>]

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> From: Buckaroobwana@aol.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: sauropod killers
> Date: Sunday, April 02, 2000 12:09 AM
> 
> Greetings,
> I've recently re-read Ricardo Delgados' excellent Age of Reptiles: Tribal

> Warfare trade paperback. In one of the earliest scenes in the book, a
pack of 
> deinonychs attack and kill a sauropod by jumping up and slashing its
neck. I 
> began to wonder about this. Are the necks of sauropods this vulnerable?
Could 
> a deinonych actually do this? It looked really cool on paper but it
seemed 
> unlikely to me. Any thoughts or information would be appreciated.
> 
I seriously doubt that a Deinonychus would attempt an attack on a sauropod
(other than a newborn) . There's no evidence of these animals
hunting in packs (even if they did, they're still too small to be going
after sauropods ! ) . Why would an animal this small go after the largest
animal in it's environment , when there's plenty of small game ?
Utahraptor , maybe ,and then probably sick , old  or young individuals.
If anything preyed upon early Cretaceous sauropods in the Cloverly
formation (or other , similarly aged formations in Western N. America) my
vote would be for Acrocanthosaurus atokensis .
Regards , 
Truett Garner