How Tyrannosaurus rex ate enough calories to grow so large
Earth.com • • science
Key Points:
- Fossil evidence from the Late Jurassic Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry in Colorado reveals that baby long-necked sauropod dinosaurs were a key food source for large carnivorous dinosaurs, providing predators with an easier and more reliable prey option than adult giants.
- Young sauropods hatched from relatively small eggs, making them vulnerable for years and forming a steady food supply for predators like Allosaurus, who avoided the risks of attacking fully grown, well-defended herbivores.
- Researchers reconstructed over 12,000 unique food chains using fossil data such as tooth wear, stomach contents, and isotopes, demonstrating complex ecological connections and showing that juvenile sauropods had far more predator links than armored plant-eaters.
- The dominance
