14 DAY TRIAL // One would assume that, given its being referred to as T. Rex's smaller cousin, the Allosaurus (i.e. a theropod that roamed the Earth about 150 million years ago) must have behaved much like the legendary predator.
However, a team of researchers at Ohio University in Athens says that, at least as far as their feeding behavior is concerned, these two species could not have been more different.
Whereas the T. Rex used to whip its head from side to side in order to rip off chunks of meat, the Allosaurus is now said to have had different dining manners.
Thus, it appears that it fed similarly to modern-day falcons, meaning that it made use of its neck and its body in order to strip carcasses of their flesh.
“Allosaurus was uniquely equipped to drive its head down into prey, hold it there, and then pull the head straight up and back with the neck and body, tearing flesh from the carcass kind of like how a power shovel or backhoe rips into the ground,” specialist Eric Snively explains.
A detailed account of this investigation into the feeding behavior of the Allosaurus was published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica this May 21.