Italian paleontologists from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia studied the feeding habits of carnivorous dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Paleontology and Evolutionary Science (PES).
Scientists analyzed bite marks left on the bones of giant sauropod dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Brontosaurus. They concluded that most of these marks were left by the teeth of therapods, a group of carnivorous dinosaurs that included Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and the most famous ancient predator, Tyrannosaurus.
Paleontologists concluded that none of the bites analyzed showed signs of healing. This suggests either that all attacks by predators were fatal to their victims, or, more likely, that the therapods acted as scavengers, eating giant carcasses they found.
The researchers say their work provides a better understanding of how some of the largest creatures to ever roam the Earth interact.
Previous scientists I learnedWhy scavenger dinosaurs were more successful than predators.