Therizinosaurus

[Thorondor 33]

So, do you think Thereizinosaurus was a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore?

The theory in "Chased by Dinosaurs" could be very true, that Therizinosaurus was a herbivore and the large claws were made for dragging plants closer to its mouth.

But why was Therizinosaurus the only Dinosaur with monsterous claws? Not even the large Theropods like Allosaurus had claws 28 inches long.

So in the end, I say Therizinosaurus was an omnivore.

[thetyrantlizard]

The paucity of remains of Therizinosaurus--only the claws and a few limb bones here and there are positively identified--means that there is very little certainty about the lifestyle of therizinosaurus.

Therizinosaurus has been reconstructed in paintings and models based on its purported and smaller relatives, who themselves are not fully understood. It is assumed that therizinosaurus was a plant eater because most of its relatives are herbivores. It is also assumed (I personally disagree vehemently with this hypothesis) that therizinosaurus is an aberrant theropod.

If therizinosaurus is an omnivore, then the problem arises about what meat it ate. It has been suggested that its claws were used for breaking open termite nests--but it would take a lot of termites to fill a creature that size, especially if it is true (which personally I highly doubt) that it is a warm-blooded oviraptoran coelurosaur.

Then there is the suggestion that its claws were used to rip open the bellies of its prey. Unfortunately, based on its relatives who had wide bellies for their guts, it probably could not have run fast enough to catch anything.

This leaves the theory that therizinosaurus used its claws to pull high branches down for it to munch on.

Of course, these are only speculations, since so little of therizinosaurus itself has been found. If we could at least find its head the problem could be resolved.

[Thorondor 33]

Yes, alot of Dinosaurs mysteries can be solved with skulls.