Data from: Body size as a driver of scavenging in theropod dinosaurs

Theropod dinosaurs dominated Earth's terrestrial ecosystem as a diverse group of predators for over 160 million years, yet little is known about their foraging ecology. Ranging from the chicken-sized Microraptor up to the whale-sized Giganotosaurus, maintaining a balanced energy budget presented a major challenge in the face of intense competition and the demands of ontogenetic growth. Facultative scavenging, a behaviour present in almost all modern predators, may have been an important behaviour used to supplement energetically expensive lifestyles. By using agent-based models based on the allometric relationship between size and foraging behaviours, we show that theropods between 27 kg and 1044 kg would have gained a significant energetic advantage over individuals at both the small and large extremes of theropod body mass through their scavenging efficiency. These results were robust to rate of competition, primary productivity, and detection distance. Our models demonstrate the potential importance of facultative scavenging in theropods and the role of body size in defining its prevalence in Mesozoic terrestrial systems.

兽脚类恐龙（Theropod dinosaurs）作为一类多样的掠食类群，统治地球陆地生态系统超过1.6亿年，但学界对其觅食生态的了解仍十分有限。从鸡大小的小盗龙（Microraptor）到鲸一般体型的南方巨兽龙（Giganotosaurus），面对激烈的种间竞争以及个体发育生长的能量需求，维持均衡的能量收支曾是一项重大挑战。兼性食腐行为——几乎存在于所有现代掠食动物中的一种行为——或曾是辅助维持高能耗生活方式的重要策略。本研究基于体型与觅食行为间的异速生长关系构建基于智能体的模型（agent-based models），结果显示，体重介于27千克至1044千克之间的兽脚类恐龙，通过提升食腐效率，相比体型处于兽脚类体重两端的个体，能获得显著的能量优势。该研究结果不受竞争速率、初级生产力以及探测距离的影响，具有较强的稳健性。本研究模型证实了兼性食腐行为在兽脚类恐龙中的潜在重要性，以及体型在决定该行为在中生代陆地生态系统中普及程度的关键作用。