Despite its fearsome, pointed, serrated teeth and portrayal in the movies, some scientists suspect that T. rex scavenged carcasses instead of hunted down prey.
This conclusion comes from studies of modern predator/prey ecosystems, estimating the number of prey needed to support an animal of T. rex size. One group of researchers estimate that in Africa’s Serengeti grasslands, enough herbivores die daily to feed a 6,000 kg T. rex, if the dinosaur was cold-blooded, spent half a day foraging and had senses to detect carrion up to 80 meters away.
But what if T. rex were warm-blooded and had to maintain a higher metabolism? It would need more food, but it would also be able to more faster and cover more ground.
Original work: Graeme D. Ruxton and David C. Houston, 2003. could Tyrannosaurus rex have been a scavenger rather than a predator? An energetics approach. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Download their article here.
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