Possible evidence for inter-species herding (hadrosaurs/therizinosaurs)

[Minmiminime]

An interesting paper which studies the possibility of co-occurrence of hadrosaurs and therizinosaurs, given footprint patterns found in Asia and now the USA. I know this has been suggested for Camptosaurus and Stegosaurus in the past, and there are possible modern correlates in Africa, but that's an area that apparently needs more research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30110-8

[Halichoeres]

That's cool, I'm also a fan of the water-lily leaf fossil they show. The figure with the foot bone diagrams uses the old spelling of Erlikosaurus (Erlicosaurus), whoops.

Also, this painting by Karen Carr deserves to be shown off:

[Lizerd]

I could definitely believe that. Herding multiple animals is beneficial, and the larger the herd, the safer it is. Pretty cool article, thanks for sharing it!

[Faelrin]

Modern mammals do this so it makes sense that dinosaurs would have done this as well. Also bird flocks, if they could count, being our modern day dinosaurs. It's nice to have some evidence for it now in any case.

[Minmiminime]

I agree, I'd be more surprised if it wasn't the case! It's nice to see some evidence, but they have to be so cautious and objective when interpreting these things, like that possible Acrocanthosaurus lek site; it's tantalising, it seems likely, but it can never be proven beyond doubt...regardless, it shows behaviour which was demonstrating a more complex dynamic than could ever be interpreted from bones alone 😊

[Lizerd]

Dinosaurs were just as smart if not smarter than many mammals, so advanced social behaviors should not be a shocker 

[stargatedalek]

This is pretty well an expected norm in birds, so it's really not surprising to see evidence of this in non-avian dinosaurs.

[Lizerd]

Good comparison, probably should be a go to to think about birds as behavior for dinos.

[Brocc21]

 This is really interesting. It shows us a bit of history that is really interesting how these animals interacted beyond predator prey relations. But remember those kids books and documentaries with that person going "Hadrosaurs were peaceful creatures who had no means of defense aside from their speed and each other." Yeah while now who's going to mess with them when they have connections with wolverine.

[ZoPteryx]

Very cool!  And also, always good to see evidence of latest Late Cretaceous therizinosaurs in North America. 

[Dinoguy2]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I mean come on. Two species walking near each other is nowhere near the same thing as a "multi-species herd."

In fact if anybody bothered to look at the actual science you'd see the paper stated this is NOT a multi-species herd. In addition to the fact that the hadro and therizino prints are going in opposite directions(!):

"Hadrosaur tooth microwear, specifically in Edmontosaurus, suggested hadrosaurs were actively chewing grazers rather than browsers (like therizinosaurs). It is tempting to conclude that these two kinds of herbivorous dinosaurs co-existed in a mixed-taxonomic herd because of reduced interspecific competition for food resources. However, this ecological process has fallen out of favor among workers studying modern ecosystem processes and interactions66,68, so caution must be exercised before uncritically applying this phenomenon to an example from the fossil record."

[Brocc21]

Oh. Well guess that kind of large detail got overlooked.