WASHINGTON (AFP) - Bird-like dinosaurs long believed to be carnivorous predators were in fact plant lovers, with the notable exception of dedicated hunters such as T. rex, US paleontologists said Monday. Lindsay Zanno and Peter Makovicky of the Field Museum in Chicago used statistical analysis to concluded that 90 species of theropod dinosaurs ate a plant-based diet, especially among coelurosaurs, the most bird-like dinosaurs. The results were in sharp contrast to a widespread belief among paleontologists who say theropod dinosaurs hunted their prey, especially those closest to the ancestors of birds. Most theropods are clearly adapted to a predatory lifestyle, but somewhere on the line to birds, predatory dinosaurs went soft, Zanno explained. Zanno and Makovicky found nearly two dozen anatomical features were statistically linked to direct evidence of plant eating among coelurosaurian dinosaurs, such as the loss of teeth or a long neck. Once we linked certain adaptations with direct evidence of diet, we looked to see which other theropod species had the same traits...