Ectothermy in dinosaurs: paleoecological evidence from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta

Abstract

The ratio of carnivorous to herbivorous dinosaur skeletons from Dinosaur Provincial Park has been cited as evidence of endothermy in dinosaurs. In living populations of large endothermic mammals, carnivore biomass represents approximately 1% of total biomass. Two models describing energy flow from herbivores to carnivores indicate that tyrannosaurids are three to four times more abundant in the fossil sample than would have been the case if they were endothermic. Either the fossil sample does not adequately reflect relative abundances of large dinosaurs in the ancient community, or large dinosaurs were ectothermic.