T-Rex prey grew 'like crazy' to avoid being dino dinner: study

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — A duck-billed dinosaur which was a favourite prey of the Tyrannosaurus Rex grew "like crazy" from egg to adult-size to avoid being eaten by the king of the dino world, a study revealed Wednesday.

The Hypacrosaurus grew three to five times faster than any of its predators including the T-Rex -- and also had babies at a much younger age, expanding its numbers to give it an evolutionary edge.

"By the time the duck-billed dinosaur was fully grown, the tyrannosaurs were only half grown -- it was a huge size difference," said US researcher Drew Lee in an online journal, calling it the "gazelle of the Late Cretaceous."

When full-sized the plant-eating dinosaur, which lived between 67 million and 80 million years ago, was as big as the T-Rex at 30...