[Rockhounds] Never mind outrunning a T. rex - you could probably outwalk it

[Axel Emmermann]

Hi Kreigh,

I'm not a party-pooper but I can't resist putting some question marks with
this.
In all biological paradigms there has to be a balance between hunter and
prey. Add 2 mph to the "escape velocity" of antelope and cheetahs may starve
(or have a change of diet). Add 2 mph to the maximum speed of the cheetah
and this predator may run out of prey in a very short time altogether. 
I don't pretend to have all the knowledge about dinosaurs to make meaningful
contributions on the subject but I do recognize the human tendency to
underestimate things... be it the degree of sophistication in early medieval
society or the abilities of animals in general.
For example: take an adult Nile crocodile... it may weigh 600 to 700 kilos
and look really helpless and slow on land. But beware, you couldn't outrun
it if you had a bike. Perhaps with a race bike you would stand a chance.
These seemingly slow animals can charge at a remarkable 30 - 35 km/h. 
Well, can't we do like they did in the movie... find some T-Rex DNA and grow
one?
I would like to see the scientist who came up with this "walking speed
predator" idea walk 100 yards with a hungry T-Rex on hos tail. Let's even
give the scientist a 20 yards head start.
It's a sportive way to settle a longstanding issue and, on top of that, it
IS the Darwinist way to go! If all the careless scientists get eaten,
science will prevail!

Cheers
Axel 
 

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> Namens Kreigh
Tomaszewski
Verzonden: woensdag 21 april 2021 2:56
Aan: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
<rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
Onderwerp: [Rockhounds] Never mind outrunning a T. rex - you could probably
outwalk it

Could you run faster than a *T. rex*
<https://www.livescience.com/23868-tyrannosaurus-rex-facts.html>? According
to new research, you might be able to outpace one by walking.

In the movie "Jurassic Park" (Warner Bros, 1993), a carful of terrified
people famously tries to escape a loping *T. rex, *but science quickly threw
shade at the movie beast and demonstrated that the king of tyrannosaurs
wouldn't have been fast enough to run down a jeep. Now, researchers have
slowed down the big *dinosaur*
<https://www.livescience.com/3945-history-dinosaurs.html> even more.

New simulations based on tail movement showed that *T. rex* wasn't even a
quick walker. In fact, its preferred walking speed clocked in at just under
3 mph (5 km/h), about half the speed of earlier estimates. To put that into
perspective, that's about the average walking speed for a human, according
to the *British Heart Foundation*
<https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/events/training-zone/walking-traini
ng-zone/walking-faqs>
.

But how fast could such a big animal move? Previously, researchers answered
that question by looking at *T. rex*'s mass and hip height, sometimes
incorporating stride length from preserved trackways. Those estimates placed
a *T. rex*'s walking speed roughly between 4.5 and 6.7 mph (7.2 and
10.8 km/h), about as fast as a mediocre human runner.

For the new investigation, rather than focusing on *T. rex*'s legs,
scientists instead explored the role played by the vertical movement of the
tyrannosaur's tail, said Pasha van Bijlert, a master's candidate studying
paleo-biomechanics at the Free University of Amsterdam, and the lead author
of the new study on *T. rex* walking speed.

https://www.livescience.com/t-rex-slow-walker-tail.html
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