英语听力：2013-05-15 完美捕食 Perfect Predators —6

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A battle with Triceratops is more often than not a fight to the death. This herbivore has evolved into a tank.

 

Now, as a Tyrannosaur specialist, I don’t like to admit this, but in that situation, a Triceratops probably won, and it probably won on a regular basis. 

 

It looks as if this battle will end in a draw. The barbarian¹ of the Cretaceous walks away empty-handed. Because T-Rex are warm-blooded, they need to maintain their body temperature. This means consuming huge amounts of energy, over a million calories every week. That’s nearly 700 kilograms of raw meat needed from a good number of kills. But there could be another way for T-Rex to get his meals, probably by stealing a kill from a rival carnivore.

 

The reality is this has got all the tools of a predator², and those tools of a predator serve a scavenger³ equally well. 

 

One of those tools is its nose, the most sensitive found on any carnivorous dinosaur⁴. 

 

I can tell you that that good sense of smell was awesome⁵ for finding carcasses. And when it did, it ate those carcasses. 

 

A dead Triceratops. For Tyrannosaurus Rex, scavenging comes with substantial risk. Muscling in on another creature’s kill is not for the faint-hearted. But a T-Rex can take on almost any other meat eater, even another T-Rex. And when it’s Tyrannosaur versus⁶ Tyrannosaur, the winner takes all. 

 

Cannibalism⁷ in nature doesn’t seem to be a matter of pleasure. It’s a matter of business. 

 

T-Rex meat is T-Rex food as well, you know. It’s protein. 

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