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Table 1. Daily food requirements of a Giganotosaurus or Tyrannosaurus individual at increasing body size throughout ontogeny. Food requirements are based upon Nagy (1987) equation 19, for mammals. Equivalent mammalian masses for the dinosaurs was calculated using Nagy’s (1987) field metabolic rate regressions and the intermediate rate for dinosaurs (Fig. 4).

Dinosaur Mass
(kg)

Equivalent Mammalian Mass (kg)

Food Requirements
kg/day

100

22

0.9

500

72.5

2.3

1000

207

5.5

2000

450

10.4

4000

647

14.1

5000

725

15.4

6000

824

17.1

8000

1000

20.1