Scientists have discovered a new, gigantic dinosaur. This is what T-Rex may have been eating. It makes sense. Wolves eat buffalo, which are much larger than wolves, so T-Rex must have had something larger than itself to dine upon. Sounds like this new dinosaur may fill the bill.

http://www.care2.com/causes/scientists-j...an-a-t-rex.html

I'm wondering what this giant herbivore ate ...and how much!
Land plants were similarly reaching new heights, at this time iirc, and coevolution happens....

Giant composting machines would have emitted lots of methane,
as well as producing lots of heat.
Ever wonder how those cold-blooded dinosaurs kept warm enough ...during the long, high-latitude, winter season?

...and think about the nascent and evolving types of soils these critters contributed to ...and helped to form.

~

Well, that is one of those questions. Through the years there has been a lot of speculation that the dinosaurs may not have been cold blooded. If they had some form of body temperature control then their size might have been enough to keep them warm.

And anyhow maybe they were great lovers. (I've Got Your Love to Keep Me Warm)

Bill Gill

I am betting on at least some dinosaurs having been warm blooded. It would be hard to move that much mass without generating some heat. There is a limit to how much heat a poikilotherm can absorb from the environment in order to heat their bodies. And we don't see evidence of body structures designed to harvest heat. Homeothermy makes more sense from a standpoint of mass and surface area. I can't imagine a dinosaur this large lying around waiting to soak up some rays in the morning while the smaller, more agile predators like T-Rex are already up and dancing around, trying to eat the big dinosaur. I think it is much more likely that both were homeotherms, ready to up and run at a moment's notice. If this specimen is indeed a juvenile, it suggests an even larger adult form. That much mass would just about have to be self-heating.

Suggested name: Steak-o-saurus

Wow! I learned a new word. Thanks!

That all sounds very reasonable.
I wish I knew more about the evolution of digestion.
I assume dinosaurs were similar to reptiles and birds, with primitive cloacae.

I still wonder about the soils, and the effects of (the evolution of) digestion (or its products)
on the soil's growth and development; its evolution.

~

I can just imagine a t-bone steak off of a creature this large. It would take a platter the size of a small motor home to contain it. And I imagine it turned out a huge pile of waste daily. Certainly enough to have a local effect on the soil and the plant life in the vicinity. Speaking of plant life, there would have to be a great deal of it to support such a large creature, let alone a pair or small herd. I suspect that in those days there was more CO2 and more plant growth per day than we have today. It would be interesting to investigate the stomach contents and see what a dinosaur this large would eat.