Inspired by several postings I did in the past I wanted to do a rendering of a T-rex doing something a little different...In
Eyelids of Mourning I suggested that theropods likely used nictitating eyelids like sharks or birds during violent bouts with prey- and I also thought that depictions of such behavioral anatomy in paleo-illustrations are lacking. And in
This Island Earth IIIc: Theropod Wars continued I suggested that predatory theropods, due to a rather conservative bauplan, all made rather good fishers due to their height and lunging necks. So below is a teenage T-rex who has caught some putative shark- as shown below the Hell Creek formation is an apt name as it had a fairly diverse fauna of sharks, rays, sawfish- and as it bites into the shark its nictitating eyelid comes into use.
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| Hell Creek Chondrichthyans |
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| (c) Duane Nash |
T-rex was the ubiquitous large theropod of its habitat. It lived fast and died young. Work by Jack Horner suggests it formed up to 20% of the dinosaur fauna where it lived. The withdrawal of the Western Interior Seaway would have left a huge swampy habitat, no reason to believe T-rex would not have exploited the aquatic fauna of crocs, turtles, fish, champosaurs and chondrichthyans in this area.
Cheers!
