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How T. Rex Ate Triceratops in 4 Easy Steps

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Buster's Uncle:

--- Quote ---How T. Rex Ate Triceratops in 4 Easy Steps
By Megan Gannon, News Editor | LiveScience.com – 16 hrs ago.. .

 
Step 1: Get a good grip on the bony frill. Step 2: Rip off the head. Step 3: Nibble on the face. Step 4: Savor the delicate cuts at the neck.
 
This is how researchers say a Tyrannosaurus may have feasted on a Triceratops during the age of the dinosaurs.
 
A team of scientists led by paleontologist Denver Fowler from the Museum of the Rockies examined 18 Triceratops fossil specimens, mostly skulls, from Montana's Hell Creek Formation. All of the fossil bones had evidence of Tyrannosaurus tooth marks.

 Scientists have found isolated remains of Tyrannosaurus tooth marks on Triceratops fossils before, but Fowler's study has lots of specimens from the same region.
 
"Plus, they're tooth marks on skull bones which is a bit weird since we typically think of the body being the major source of nutrients for a carnivore," he wrote in an email to LiveScience.
 
His team found extensive puncture and pull marks on the frills of many specimens. As this bony armor around the neck of the Triceratops would not have been a good source of meat, the markings suggest the Tyrannosaurus was gripping the frill in its mouth to rip off the Triceratops head to get at its nutrient-rich neck muscles, the researchers said.

 Other bone markings suggest the meal was not just a violent, flesh-ripping affair. Precise bites along the front of several Triceratops skulls indicate the Tyrannosaurus carefully nibbled on the tender meat of the face.
 
None of the bones showed signs of healing, which told the scientists that the biting took place after the Triceratops had died. As Fowler told LiveScience, "It's actually really tough to show that two animals were belligerents in life."
 
Fowler presented his preliminary findings last week in Raleigh, N.C., at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting. His research is ongoing and has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

 "Taking the story deeper than the gory surface, with the final paper we're hoping to be able to say more about ecological interactions," such as changes in feeding patterns, he said.
 
The findings raise questions about how the feeding behavior of Tyrannosaurus changed throughout its life span. While adults would have been able to tear apart a tough Triceratops with their thick teeth, the team believes younger ones may have had to turn to different feeding strategies to avoid tooth damage.

--- End quote ---
http://news.yahoo.com/t-rex-ate-triceratops-4-easy-steps-215218606.html

I posted this for Uno.  I just had a feeling.  ;)

Unorthodox:
Everyone knows Trex eat sheep.

Once before Christmas, a long time ago,
Three starving T-Rexes, filled with sadness and woe,
Drooled down at a sheep flock, so tasty and good.
They’d eat them up in a second, if only they could.

But the shepherds watched o’r their flocks carefully.
So t’was no chance for snacking for the T-Rexes three.
Then in the skies to the East, a wonder glowed bright
A star with a tail slipped soft through the night.

The shepherds gazed up, agog and amazed,
At the cold new-born star as it silently blazed.
They saw wise men three, upon camels and horse,
Ride toward a stable — rustic, common and coarse.

At the door, they all halted, these kings from the East,
Faced with a setting of hay, straw and beast.
They offered up frankincense, gold coins and myrrh.
They bowed down and worshipped, their treasures conferred.

From out of the stable, came a warbling cry
Of a new-babe’s complaining of his diaper, not dry.
The shepherds discussed what they ought to do
And they soon decided that they should go too.

So away from their sheep flocks, the shepherds hurried that night
To behold in the stable that most curious sight.
And lo, they soon found in the stable nearby
Mary and Joseph and the source of the cry.

The Messiah had come, to bring hope to the world
His halo glowed bright; His great glory unfurled.
Like the Kings from the East, these men bowed and they prayed.
To the world’s newest King, in swaddling handmade.

But up on the hillside, dinos chuckled and danced,
For the absent shepherds had provided their chance.
So down from the hillside, with a most horrible screech,
The three dinos charged, and grabbed each sheep in reach.

They chomped them. They bit them. They gobbled them up.
Sheep’s bleating. Good eating! A grand way to sup!
The flock tried to flee, but T-Rexes are fast.
They devoured them all, each one, to the last.

And after the last sheep’s blood did squirt,
T-Rexes looked ‘round for a tasty dessert.
O’r the hilltops, three kings rode away.
Hmmm, just the thing—three royal fillet.

With a bellow that shook the whole desert landscape,
The dinos charged forth; no, there’d be no escape.
The kings saw them coming and tried running away,
But hunting down kings was simple child’s play.

Melchior was munched, and Caspar gulped down;
Balthazar eaten whole (except for his crown).
T-Rexes stood grinning while spitting out jewels.
For wise men it seems, taste exactly like fools.

The dinos discussed then what they should do next,
Three well-fed and happy tyrannosaur rex.
“That babe’s been a boon to our fate here tonight.
We should thank him profusely; it’d only be right.”

“We need to bring gifts, for He too is King.”
“I think that I’ve got it! I know just the thing!”
The dinosaur ripped out a nearby pine tree,
And lickety-split, soon there were three.

Each of the T-Rexes held their trees by their stems
And covered them over with jewelry and gems,
‘Till the trees in the moonlight did sparkle and glow
Gifts for a king, theirs to bestow.

Three crowns topped the trees; silk sashes hung ‘round;
Such riches and gilt were sure to astound.
The dinos with trees made their walk to the stable.
In a story turned legend and then turned to fable.

How three starving T-Rex, on a cold winter’s night
Walked out of the darkness by a single star’s light,
How they brought trees of beauty for the newly-born child;
How they bestowed them and then went back to the wild.

And Mary heard them cry as they trudged out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!”

Buster's Uncle:
You wrote that in high school maybe? :D  Get an illustrator, and that's a mighty fine evil childrens' book.

Unorthodox:
Not mine, unfortunately.  I come up with the overall story, someone else put it to poetry. 

Buster's Uncle:
Get an illustrator.  Money.  I'm serious.

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