How did T-rex hunt its prey?

The T-Rex may have been one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs, but it might not have been a predator at all


Tyrannosaurus rex – from Greek and Latin words meaning ‘tyrant’, ‘lizard’ and ‘king’ – was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs to walk the earth. It lived about 85 to 65 million years ago, in lightly forested North American river valleys and plains. The
T-Rex stood more than four metres tall and 12 metres
long, weighing in at five to seven metric tons. Some
fossil evidence shows that the female T-Rex may have been the larger of the sexes, although there’s no way to know for sure. Its banana-shaped, serrated teeth gripped flesh and its massive jaw crushed bones as it downed more than 200 kilos of meat in one gulp. Likely prey included the Triceratops horridus and the Torosaurus, each about the size of an elephant.

There have been several nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons found since the first bones were discovered in 1894, some of which included soft tissue. From these, palaeontologists have learned that the T-Rex had a lot of bird-like traits. It likely had a one-way air sac system that kept its lungs constantly full of fresh air, hollow bones to lighten its body weight, and binocular, colour sight. It also had a wishbone, or furcula. Some palaeontologists believe that our assumptions of scaly, lizard-like skin might not be entirely accurate and that
T-Rex could’ve even had feathers.

Controversy about the T-Rex centres on whether it was a predator or a scavenger, as well as whether it moved slowly or quickly. Many palaeontologists believe that the Tyrannosaurus rex was strictly a predator, but those who question this assumption point to its short, weak arms with two-fingered hands, large legs suited for walking distances and a strongly developed sense of smell. These seem more in line with what we know of scavengers rather than predators. Others argue that muscle scars found on skeletons show that the T-Rex had strong arms. They also believe that their binocular sight and hollow bones indicate a faster-moving predator. However, predators today will sometimes scavenge if fresh prey isn’t around, so T-Rex could’ve actually been both.

  • fabien

    The shape of the animal suggest that it was a hunter. In a museum, a skull of a triceratops contains a bite from a T-rex. But the triceratops survived long enough because the wound healed meaning that the T-rex was hunting.
    Predators form the present day, hunt or scavenge when they can’t find a prey. The T-rex could have been both.

  • http://www.billysbeerblog.com/ Bill Z

    I would tend to agree that T-Rex could have been a hunter as well as a scavenger. Many of today’s apex predators, e.g. lions, hyenas, are both.

  • Travis Swonger

    Empirical evidence that the T-Rex hunted living prey can be found here: http://m.pnas.org/content/110/31/12560
    This does not distinguish whether this species also scavanged or not, but it seems likely it would not pass up a free meal to conserve energy.