If all we could ever find of Dinosaurs were fossils and eggs, how could the paleontologists determine the hunting behaviours and hunting patterns of different species?
In: Biology
That can be pretty tricky, especially if the species is known from only a few examples. Some dinosaurs are only known from one or two partial specimens and we know virtually nothing about them.
Findings that might help detail behavior:
1) Fossils of other species bearing damage or embedded teeth from a predator. Healed damage suggests the prey escaped, and that the predator was hunting live prey.
2) Fossils of groups of predators. T-rex fossils are typically found alone and often bear damage that’s likely from another T-rex, suggesting they were solitary and territorial. Raptor-family fossils are often found together, suggesting they were more gregarious in life.
3) Fossilized in the act. There have been a few remarkable finds where a volcanic eruption, mudslide, or Kamikaze attack have killed the predator and the prey simultaneously, fossilizing them locked together in battle. I know of one incredible fossil of a raptor species locked together with a juvenile ceratopsid, a botched attack that killed them both.
4) Stomach contents. Sometimes the fossil is so well preserved that smaller fossils of bone fragments and vertebrae from recent prey are also fossilized in the predator’s abdominal cavity.
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