One topic I've never hit on here despite a long desire to is that of omnivory in the ceratopsians. It was spurred by one of my favorite pieces by Mark Witton:
Styracossaurus chowing down on a dead juvenile tyrannosaur. The accompanying essay makes a persuasive argument that these iconic saurian veg-munchers weren't so finicky. As he writes, "Ceratopsian jaws seem over-engineered for pruning leaves or cropping ferns, and their teeth appear better suited to slicing rigid, fibrous food into chunks than mechanically breaking down cellulose. Whatever they were feeding on, they were selective feeders: their beaks are far too narrow to harvest food en masse."
This is hardly a new idea. Witness for yourself this hypothesis put into good use.
You simply can't beat homemade dinosaur Halloween costumes. Brutal. H/T to
I Effing Love Dinosaurs and
Zombies Ate My Blog. I also saw it on
Cold Splinters a while ago. By
Jacob Barss-Bailey, via Flickr.
Something might be going on with the Ceratopsians full on dental arrangement, but they aren't alone.
ReplyDeleteAustralia's Muttaburrasaurus had speculative meat eating habits due to its shearing teeth, and a Cretaceous South American Sauropod who's name eludes me had similar dental equipment.
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