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 |
Equivalent Mammalian Mass (kg) |
Food
Requirements |
|
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 |