Re: Horner on NBC Nightly News

["Chris Collinson" <chris_collinson@hotmail.com>]

I really can't understand why Horner is so stubborn not to believe T-rex was
a predator. The leg proportions are exactly that of a scaled up
ornithomisaur, so it could run quite fast. It had the biomechanics of a bird
not an elephant and so had pneaumatitized bone making the beast much lighter
and nimbler, than would be expected for such a large animal. Due to its
nimbleness it could likely take a fall with the best of them! The only
arguably valid point that Horner makes is T-rex's specialized bone crushing
jaws, analogous to modern day scavengers the hyenas. However, hyenas have
Leopards, Lions, Cheetahs, Cape dogs and Jackals to steal from (not to
mention the fact that Hyenas often hunt for them selves anyway). As far as I
know T-rex  does not have to share its environment with anything large
enough to bring down large Edmotosaurs/Triceratops on a regular basis to
provide both itself and T-rex with a meal of endothermic proportions. And
there is no way i'd believe that disease and flooding were so rampant that
there was a constant supply of carrion to sustain T-rex over the X million
years it rained over. I hope Horner wises up a little because ,other than
this scavenger T-rex thing, he is good scientist and has done many good
things for paleontology, Maiasaura eggs and embryos and dinosaur growth
rates, to name a few.

Any ways that's my two cents worth
-Chris Collinson


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