"Although abelisaurids were predators, it's not possible to assure if they were active hunters, scavengers or both," co-author Ariel Mendez told Discovery News. Mendez added that while abelisaurs once dominated the continent, they might not have been without enemies. "Other groups of theropods (meaning "beast-footed" carnivores) that populated South America during the Cretaceous include coelurosaurs and carcharodontosaurs that could have been possible competitors for food and territory," he said. Since similar dinosaurs, including near-identical abelisaurs, have been found in Africa, Madagascar and India, it's possible that these land masses, perhaps excluding Africa, retained connections well into the Late Cretaceous, according to Scott Sampson, chief curator of the Utah Museum of Natural History. "If so," he said, "dinosaurs may have been able to disperse across the vast distances between South America and India-Madagascar via an intervening Antarctica." Novas agreed, and further thinks the Northern and Southern Hemispheres also became disconnected during that time, which allowed for an unusual division of predators. He explained, "While tyrannosaurs and velociraptorids dominated the northern continents, abelisaurs were the most common predators in the southern continents." Related Links: |
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