Dinosaur King Ate Himself

This article can be found at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/24/MNBT1FTELM.DTL&type=science

    Cannibalism is incredibly taboo in modern society, but is relatively common in the animal kingdom. This little pearl of a story reveals the possibly cannibalistic tendencies of one of the most famous animals in history—the Tyrannosaurus rex. The article starts out with a cute first paragraph that introduces the topic, but also illustrates its quite jovial nature: “Tyrannosaurus rex was certainly the king of dinosaurs, but may also have been dinosaur a la king.” The sentence highlights the fact that this is not groundbreaking science being done here—it’s just a fun fact about a popular animal.
   
    The writer does well in pacing the story. No paragraph is longer than two sentences. In fact, all but two are one sentence in length. This allows for quick and easy reading. The writer (Randolph Schmid from the Associated Press) also does well in providing important quotes from the researchers, and clearly explaining the most essential details of the study: “They found 17 fossils with deep V-shaped gouges of a type identified as being made by T. rex. Of those, four were remains of T. rex themselves. It seems likely the marks were made during scavenging from a dead dinosaur, the researchers said.” Schmid even manages to, in this short article, address the broader topic of cannibalism among other animals, and note that it is common among larger carnivores such as Komodo dragons and alligators. It then comes as no surprise that the T. rex may have feasted on itself as well.