RE: Carnivorous ceratopsids?

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

It is exceedingly difficult to establish that an animal ate strictly one thing 
or another. After all, deer eat carcasses, cattle
will eat live birds, and hippos actually eat a fair amount of meat. The 
categories "carnivorous" and "herbivorous" are rarely
absolute.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of 
> Poekilopleuron
> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 4:14 AM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Carnivorous ceratopsids?
> 
> Good day,
> 
> given the new extraordinary find of _Chilesaurus_ I wonder if there is any 
> "firm" evidence of possible omnivory or even
carnivorous
> habits in late Cretaceous ceratopsids? AFAIK some researchers suggested that 
> the extremely strong curved beak could serve for
> ripping flesh just as good as for cropping plant matter. How strong is the 
> current status of obligate herbivory in majority of
> ceratopsians (or even marginocephalians)? Thank you very much, Tom