Criticism
Since Valley Of The T-Rex was shown on television, it has been met by criticism. Many of the arguments Horner use to support his case have been examined by other paleontologists, who do not agree that they conclusively show Tyrannosaurus was an obligate scavenger. As for Tyrannosaurus short forelimbs, it has been pointed out that predators like wolves and hyenas do not use their frontlegs to take down prey. Moreover, hyenas, like Tyrannosaurus, have jaws and teeth to crush bone, yet they use it to hunt their own prey.
In the program, Horner measure the leg bones of the Tyrannosaurus skeleton MOR 1128, or "G-rex", one of the specimens which were shown in the program as it was dug up. The program says that "G-rex" was found in a geological layer 90 meters below where "Wankelrex" was found, and therefore believed to be 3 million years older than the other known Tyrannosaurus skeletons (like "Wankelrex"). According to Horner, the thighbone and shinbone of "G-rex" were about the same length, but in "Wankelrex", the thighbone is longer than the shinbone. Horner claims this shows Tyrannosaurus over time lost the ability to run, and evolved into a walking scavenger. It has been pointed out by Garner, however, that the shinbone of "Wankelrex" was put together from broken pieces, which could question Horner's measurements. Also, it has later been reported that the "G-rex" shinbone is 1.12 meters long, but that its thighbone was longer, 1.26 meters. Holtz has also pointed out that the condition of longer thighbones than shinbones is also found in horses, yet they are fast running animals.
Other scientists have argued that Tyrannosaurus could have had a well developed sense of sight with binocular vision, typical of a predator, and a well developed sense of smell in Tyrannosaurus could have been used for hunting, rather than just finding carcasses. Evidences for a predatory lifestyle in Tyrannosaurus includes discoveries of skeletons from herbivorous dinosaurs like Edmontosaurus and Triceratops, with evidence of healed bitemarks on them, indicating they survived attacks from big predators, possibly Tyrannosaurus.
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