Type of Submission
Poster
Keywords
Dinosaur, Paleontology, Theropod, Acrocanthosaurus, Torvosaurus, Biomechanics, Paleoecology, Geology, Biology, Predation
Proposal
The giant theropod predators have long stood as a focus of public interest in dinosaurs, and a major research focus due to their popularity with the public. However, due to the sheer volume of research done, it can be difficult to gain a clear picture of how the many differences between them would actually affect their behavior in life. Here, an attempt to summarize and cross-apply the different methods used to study these animals was made, and a picture of their lifestyle and biomechanics has been drawn for each. Calculations were done to obtain a general speed of each animal. 3D models of their teeth were printed and analyzed for diets. Competition and potential prey items were also considered. Although there are many different giant theropods, the ones studied for this paper were limited to some lesser known representatives of the major theropod families: Acrocanthosaurus, and Torvosaurus.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Superpredators: How Two of the Largest Carnivorous Land Animals Ever to Live Survived and Thrived
The giant theropod predators have long stood as a focus of public interest in dinosaurs, and a major research focus due to their popularity with the public. However, due to the sheer volume of research done, it can be difficult to gain a clear picture of how the many differences between them would actually affect their behavior in life. Here, an attempt to summarize and cross-apply the different methods used to study these animals was made, and a picture of their lifestyle and biomechanics has been drawn for each. Calculations were done to obtain a general speed of each animal. 3D models of their teeth were printed and analyzed for diets. Competition and potential prey items were also considered. Although there are many different giant theropods, the ones studied for this paper were limited to some lesser known representatives of the major theropod families: Acrocanthosaurus, and Torvosaurus.
