Dinosaurs’ tooth wear sheds light on their predatory lives

Predatory, bird-like theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (100.5-66 million years ago) of Spain and Canada all relied on a puncture-and-pull bite strategy to kill and consume their prey. But close examination of patterns of wear and modeling of their serrated, blade-like teeth reported in Current Biology on April 26 also suggest that these dinosaurs weren’t necessarily in direct competition for their next meal. Some of them apparently preyed on larger, struggling prey, while others stuck to softer or smaller fare.