Dave Hone disputes pack hunting, cites social evidence
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- Dave Hone notes that cooperative pack hunting among theropods lacks solid fossil evidence, despite a famous Deinonychus–Tenontosaurus assemblage that has been re‑examined.
- Herbivorous dinosaurs are often found in large groups in the fossil record, but many such assemblages reflect mass‑mortality events (e.g., flood deposits) rather than typical herd sizes, analogous to wildebeest migrations.
- Juvenile dinosaurs constitute only about 5 % of all dinosaur fossils, yet when group fossils are discovered roughly half the individuals are juveniles, suggesting they formed protective aggregations.
- Theropod predators exhibit frequent tail‑bite marks and facial injuries, including healed skull bites in tyrannosaurs, indicating both predation attempts and intraspecific combat.
- Ankylosaurs show evidence of using their armored tails in fights with each other, implying the armor may have been for intraspecific combat as well as defense.
- Ceratopsians display frill growth patterns that are slow early on but accelerate at sexual maturity, supporting the idea that frills served primarily in sexual selection and display.
- Pterosaurs hatch with fully developed wings capable of flight and possess diverse head crests that are larger in older individuals, suggesting a precocial lifestyle combined with sexually selected display structures.
Why it matters: Paleontologists gain a more nuanced framework for interpreting fossil assemblages, while popular media must revise long‑standing pack‑hunting tropes that have shaped public imagination. This shift could steer future research funding toward studies of juvenile group dynamics, intraspecific combat, and display traits.
