Re: T-rex as ankylosaur specialist?

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Tue, 30 May 2006 17:49:42 +0200, Jerzy.Dyczkowski wrote
> 
> Combination of short arms and strong shoulder bones could be 
> adaptation to wrestling with such prey. I suggest, that T-rex first 
> grasped ankylosaurid avoiding both tail club and spikes. It then 
> used arms, together with jaws and weight to pull ankylosaurid to the 
> side, exposing vulnerable underbelly.
> 

It doesn't matter how strong a T.rex's arms were; if the animal tried to 
grasp a multi-tonne prey item with them alone, the limbs would have been 
ripped from their shoulder sockets.

Also, ankylosaurids tend to have been pretty low to the ground, which would 
have made trying to grapple them with such puny arms even harder. If I was a 
T.rex and I wanted something crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle, 
I'd have used my feet to knock an ankylosaur onto its back (like a giant 
secretary bird attacking a snake). I doubt an anky could right itself from 
that position very quickly, and the exposed belly would have been a lot 
easier to bite through.

--
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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
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