Comments on: The Awkwardness of Tyrant Teens

By: Weasel

Weasel — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 02:59:09 +0000

@Doug, I’m no expert or anything but I figure perhaps niche partitioning came BEFORE the decreasing predator diversity? As in, you have a large predator like T-Rex whose young fill the niche of smaller and medium sized predators nicely, therefore displacing other predators?

Perhaps its not that dinosaurs were becoming less diverse at the end of the Cretaceous, but rather that T-Rex was so succesful a predator, and filled many niches so well that it basically monopolized the food chain, therefore leaving little room for other carnivores to live alongside it? What does the fossil record tell us about latest Cretaceous environments where T-Rex was absent?

By: Herman Diaz

Herman Diaz — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 23:07:52 +0000

“Young T. rex may have lived a separate existence from their parents. Rather than going after the same kinds of prey, which would have put them in direct competition with their parents, they specialized in smaller fare until they were large enough to snatch unwary Triceratops and Edmontosaurus. ”

I don’t mean to nit-pick, but just b/c young predators eat the same things as their parents doesn’t necessarily mean they’re competing (E.g. Young carnivorans & raptor birds eat the same things as their parents b/c the latter feed the former until the former can get their own food). Otherwise, good article as usual.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:19:18 +0000

This certainly raises more questions than answers. Was this niche partitioning a result of the decreasing diversity of dinosaurs towards the end of the cretaceous? The diplodocus example suggests not. However, their niche partitioning was going on in a ecosystem full of giant, long necked herbivores. Since competition would have been high for forage, that niche partitioning may have been a strategy to ensure a food source for the young since the adults were all vying for everything else. The same ecosystem was also host to a suite of carnivores of all sizes. Would any of them have engaged in niche partitioning? Finally, if T. rex was partitioning (especially if it was because of decreasing diversity), did any of the herbivores like Triceratops and Edmontosaurus do it as well?

By: chris y

chris y — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:16:16 +0000

There is no better title for a forty-foot long, knife-toothed predator that was the biggest carnivore in its ecosystem Oh, I don't know. There's a lot to be said for Manospondylus gigas, and I'm quite partial to Dynamosaurus imperiosus as well.