Huge Carnivorous Dinosaurs May Have Hunted in Packs
Posted on April 21, 2006
MSNBC.com reports that scientists believe the 40-feet long Mapusaurus dinosaurs may have hunted in packs to take down massive plant-eating prey.
The creature, which apparently measured more than 40 feet long, is called Mapusaurus roseae. The discovery of Mapusaurus included bones from at least seven to nine of the beasts, suggesting the previously unknown animal may have lived and hunted in groups. That hunting strategy might have allowed it to attack even bigger beasts, huge plant-eating dinosaurs.The article cites professor Thomas Holtz Jr. as saying Mapusaurus joins Giganotosaurus, T. rex and Spinosaurus as the largest carnivorous dinosaurs. The idea that these massive predators could hunt together is frightening but perhaps necessary considering they may have pursued prey that was 125-foot-long -- the Argentinosaurus. 125 feet is three long school buses end to end.Coria noted the dig showed evidence of social behavior in Mapusaurus. The excavation found hundreds of bones from several Mapusaurus individuals but none from any other creature. That suggests the animals were together before they died, Coria said.
Perhaps they hunted in packs, though there is no direct evidence for that, he said in an e-mail. Currie, in a statement from his university, speculated that pack hunting may have allowed Mapusaurus to prey on the biggest known dinosaur, Argentinosaurus, a 125-foot-long plant-eater.
Holtz called the finding the first substantive evidence of group living by giant two-legged carnivores other than tyrannosaurs. It's not clear whether the animals cooperated in hunting, as wolves or lions do, or simply mobbed their prey or just gathered around after one of them made a kill, he said.