Re: a question for the tyrannosaur experts was: How Did Hadrosaurs Survive?

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Sat, 26 Oct 2002, Cliff Green wrote:
>     HEY! all you list Theropod experts. Can any of you be of assistance?

This ain't me...but here's my perspective anyway: duckbills may have been
faster/more manueverable than _T. rex_.  But, during nesting season (2+
months or so in duration) these attributes would not have helped much.  We
see duckbill nesting colonies and this gives us a clue as to what might
have been going on.  Assuming _T. rex_ could access nesting grounds, what
was the function of the colony--why nest in a colony?  Three
(main?) reasons are possible: limited substrate (unlikely), info sharing
(unlikely since duckbills couldn't really forage over a wide area in a
short time), and defense.  If defense, then the predator must be one that
the duckbills could supress--to some extent at least.  So, my guess is
that they had some sort of group defence--not too organized--in nesting
season.  In other times I would guess it was a 
sometimes-you-win/sometimes-you-lose chase and catch the young, weak, or
old.