cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/51580591

teeth would tell you it’s prey

I had a hard time resolving the front legs:

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.

Look at the bones man!

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.

aren’t most obligate carnivores not directly eaten often?

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

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.

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

Fascinating! But I actually already knew all that, and I don't think it answers my question?

New headcannon for sure! 😄

i mean have you seen irl hairless versions of harry animals some really are nightmare fuel.

And that's not even getting into the whole fish side of the thing!

Is that skeleton actually from a rabbit, or is it a hare

This would seem to indicate that it is

Get the holy hand grenade!

*What the animal's skeleton looks like.

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

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

T-Rex looked more like a bird than a mammal though. :)

bnuuy

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.

*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.

same idea, oblique carnivores have special teeth

either way the counter argument to my thought was weasels and would work for eye location as well

cool, thank you for the replies

Have you shaved a rabbit?

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

I feel like they don't attach where my brain initially expects them to and that throws me.

“Haha. Women stupid”

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

Lemmy fucking loves misogyny.