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Anonymous
>>233830 that would be the "hunter" model: scavenge whenever possible, but still hunt. i think the idea behind the "scavenger" model is that t. rex was a specialized scavenger, using its large size to chase away other predators and unable to kill anything unless it was almost dead already or it chanced to come within range of the jaws and was too small to put up a fight. they point to its jaws, which are built for crushing rather than slicing (like giganotosaurus), its tiny arms which would have been useless in hunting, and attempts to determine its top speed which have indicated that it couldn't run very fast.
i can see where the scavenger camp is coming from, but i am unconvinced. none of today's scavengers work that way. really the only exclusive scavengers we have are vultures. jackals, coyotes, and the smaller hyena species do a lot of scavenging but can also hunt, even if it's mostly small game. they also share the ecosystem with predators much larger than themselves, whereas t. rex was the biggest in its ecosystem (even larger than most potential prey items). i remain dubious about the running speed argument until i see estimates for the speed of possible prey species.
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