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[–] 53 points 2 days ago (1 child)

I had a hard time resolving the front legs:

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago

    Sure. But to be fair, you take the fur off a bunny and it looks pretty similar to the scientist's aproximation.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 days ago (10 children)

    teeth would tell you it’s prey

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  • [–] 25 points 2 days ago (6 children)

    Teeth will tell you about the animal's own diet - not whether it's being preyed upon. Carnivores and omnivores are preyed on as well.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 days ago (5 children)

    aren’t most obligate carnivores not directly eaten often?

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  • [–] 24 points 2 days ago (4 children)

    It depends a bit on your scope. If you think of obligate carnivores as typically very large, possibly apex predators, then they might not be preyed on much in the traditional sense. But carnivores also number insects, arachnids, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and lots of smaller mammals like weasels, bats or cats that are themselves prey to other animals.

    The point is that being 'predator' does not exclude an animal from also being prey. 'Predator' and 'prey' describe relationships, not mutually exclusive categories.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    i get the point you are making, and i concede it

    but i was specifically thinking mammal given the context and for which teeth would make it obvious

    even the smaller ones, cats in natural habitats come to mind are apex, and i remember learning the avoidance of eating them had to do with parasite avoidance when other food was available

    I did not realize weasels were obligate carnivores and bats were a great example as well

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  • [–] 6 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    Parasite avoidance is a factor, but mostly in the inhibition of cannibalism.

    Cats are far from apex predators. They are prey to birds of prey, canids and even bigger mustellids like badgers and wolverines. But birds, like the eurasian eagle-owl and canids like coyotes are their main concern.

    And we can clearly see the prey behavior deeply ingrained in our very cautious, flighty friends.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

    *eye placement not teeth.

    Prey animals have eyes on the sides of their head for better peripheral vision. Predators have eyes on the front for hunting.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    Maybe that’s how artists without a scientific background would recreate the animal but that’s not how scientists would recreate the animal.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    So what you're saying is, T-Rex might have had bunny ears. :)

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  • [–] 24 points 2 days ago* (3 children)

    Is that skeleton actually from a rabbit, or is it a hare? There's not a huge difference, but hares definitely look way more like the drawing (minus the ears) than rabbits do.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    So my take away is that some dinosaurs probably had floppy ears.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 days ago*

    *What the animal's skeleton looks like.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    Have you shaved a rabbit?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 days ago

    Get the holy hand grenade!

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago
    [–] 3 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    I mean, the skeleton looks as scared of the world as the bunny does, and the underfeathered reconstruction also has a vibe of mortal terror

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  • [–] -3 points 1 day ago (3 children)
  • [–] 7 points 1 day ago* (2 children)