What evidence do we have that _D. antirrhopus_ had a pack-hunting behavior
and what evidence ( or lack of evidence ) do we have that other
dromaeosaurids didn't?
Jean-Michel
Personally I few that even the best evidence we have of Deinonychus
antirrhopus hunting in packs (ie: The associated dromie teeth and remains
with Tenontosaurus) is at best, rather unconvincing. We just have too little
data to extraploate behaviour from and pack hunting is at best, as good an
educated guess as any other (like a gathering of scavening Deinonychus). The
supposed evidence for pack hunting is rather ambiguous and may sometimes
even require unwarranted optimism to see it that way. I guess the only way
to prove it reasonably as a pack hunter is rather hard and unlikely, an
animal has to survive attack by several dromie individuals for the wounds to
heal later for the observation of future paleontologists. Oxymoronically,
the way to prove it was a sucessful pack hunter was to find evidence of it
pack-hunting unsucessfuly. Prehaps footprints showing dromie attack
behaviour are also pretty good, if not better. But until then, with the data
at hand, the pack hunting theory is about as good as any other reasonable
one, abbet if quite a bit more popular.