Tyrannosaurus rex vs. Elasmotherium spp.

[Infinity Blade]

Feb 21, 2016 2:48:28 GMT 5 creature386 said:

Feb 21, 2016 1:48:14 GMT 5 @somebody said:

I remember hearing of fossil evidence of Tyrannosaurus grabbing hold of Triceratops' horns and breaking them.

Yeah, that's the material I mentioned in my psot above (when referring to something Life has shown on carnivora). On the other hand, looking at how risky such an action would have been, I doubt this was common behavior and there could be interpretations different from a fight, such as a Tyrannosaurus dragging a Triceratops carcass by pulling its horns.

I didn't find the *entire* source (needless to say, Google books only shows so much pages), but the Triceratops horn showed signs of healing.

There is also evidence for an aggressive interaction between a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus in the form of partially healed tyrannosaur tooth marks on a Triceratops brow horn and squamosal (a bone of the neck frill); the bitten horn is also broken, with new bone growth after the break. It is not known what the exact nature of the interaction was, though: either animal could have been the aggressor.

Wikipedia cited "An analysis of predator–prey behavior in a head-to-head encounter between Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops".

I also think it's less likely that Tyrannosaurus, if it indeed hauled or dragged its kills to another location, would clamp onto a place like a horn as opposed to another body part where it would have a firmer hold.

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Let's establish Elasmotherium's body mass here.

A spectacular megafaunal species of Eurasia, at ca. 3.5 tonnes, E. sibiricum was the largest Quaternary rhinoceros.

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E. sibiricum was roughly 3.5 tonnes, while E. caucasicum looked like it could weigh over 5 tonnes.

Also:

E. sibiricum apparently bore an enormous front horn, as suggested by the great bumpy hornbase on its forehead. I doubt that such a horn could be used for fights, given its position, and given the structure of the occipital region of this species. In rhinoceroses which use horns for fights, the main weapon is shifted forwards so to best utilize all the impulsion given by the neck muscles, and the supraoccipital region is stretched upward and backward in order to elongate the power arm of the muzzle-occipital condyles-supraoccipital crest lever system. For this reason I believe that confrontations may have been highly ritualised in Elasmotherium. Muzzle-wiping may therefore have been part of the ritualised disputes; but muzzlewiping or muzzle-pushing may well have played an important role also in the feeding habits of this peculiar rhinocerotid. I find that the most reasonable use of the forehead horn of Elasmotherium sibiricum is sexual display. Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to examine only one skull at the Natural History Museum of London, and therefore I have no idea of the possible sexual dimorphism of this species.

sci-hub.do/10.1007/BF03001424

This...this was not my best matchup. T. rex could easily be twice as heavy as E. sibiricum (~3.5 t vs ~6-7 t), and still bigger than E. caucasicum. On top of all this, not only is it unlikely that Elasmotherium had a giant unicorn horn (more likely to be a short "horn-like" keratoid pad that protected the fragile-boned boss, based on a recent study), but even if it had such a horn it wouldn't even be a suitable weapon.

Just to be clear, even if this were a rhino that could use its horn as an effective weapon it'd still get slaughtered. This rhino is such a dead beast that I don't even feel good about the theropod's victory here.

[An Goldish Jade]

Even at similar size Tyrannosaurus would win, it should not have much trouble to defeat a similar sized(thought actually smaller) herbivore, I am unable to see much case, where an carnivorous animal require size advantage to defeat an herbivorous one. The Tyrannosaurus is experienced to deal with Animal more well equipped then its current opponent, but the opposite do not happen, even at similar size,I would say Tyrannosaurus will win by a minimum of seventy percent.

[Deleted]

The Triceratops horn that was bitten by the Tyrannosaurus had shown signs of healing, an indication that it was alive and survived the fight. Therefore, I don't think I'm going to rule out the possibility that the Tyrannosaurus wasn't attacking a live Triceratops just yet.

My vote still goes for Tyrannosaurus.. bigger, better mobility, better weaponry (most likely)..

[jhg]

I vote for my fave coelurosaur, Tyrannosaurus! Super powered bite, slight size advantage and experience in tackling herbivores like these give it the win.

[Deleted]

Tyrannosaurus wins this.

[dinosauria101]

Yeah, the king of the dinosaurs is king in this matchup. It'd likely be able to avoid the horn and deliver some crushing bites, while the horn itself isn't an insta-kill weapon.

[rock]

t-rex wins here . t-rex preyed on animals with bigger horns than the rhino , like the triceratops so i think t-rex would be more than capble to defeat Elasmotherium , if they lived in the same time period , t-rex would have seen Elasmotherium as a prey item , much how they saw triceratops as a prey item.