Oolon Colluphid

As others have noted, it probably did both, and it's just a matter of how much of each. Predation is just a matter of what you can overpower. You may not catch the swift, but you can catch the slow. Maybe you can't catch the average slowcoach... but you can catch the crippled. And of course the easiest thing to overpower is something that's already dead!

As to the importance of smell to a scavenger, I'll just note that carrion is likely to make more smell than a live critter . You may not see it moving; you may not have a trail to follow. But you can follow your nose to the source of the pong! In other words, olfaction might well be handy for a predator, but it could be pre-eminently useful to a scavenger.

Cheers, DT

Duvenoy

On one of the herp forums I visit, I once argued that the Komodo Monitors were venomous due to the fact that the virulent bacteria in their saliva lived in symboisis with it and aided in subduing prey. It was fun and brought forth comments from some experts in the field. What started as a jest turned into a serious discussion.

It's interesting to note that the lizard that atually bites the prey is not necessarly the one to eat any of it. Competition for a carcass is fierce and dying from an infected wound might take a long time. The prey could do a lot of traveling. But, the missing-out lizard will, sooner or later, luck into another's prey.

Venomous monitors. Hah! All nonsense -- wasn't it?

doov