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

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

What’s scarier than a tyrannosaur? Three tyrannosaurs. That’s simple,
undeniable math. The question is whether or not the tyrant dinosaurs ever
prowled together in real life. Up until now, the evidence has been
equivocal. But a trackway found in British Columbia finally provides firmer
ground for speculation on the social lives of these celebrated carnivores.

The idea that large tyrannosaurs – like *Albertosaurus* and the mighty
*Tyrannosaurus* itself – worked together to bring down prey isn’t new.
University of Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie has been championing the
hypothesis for over a decade, citing bonebeds that contain multiple
individuals of the Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurs *Albertosaurus* and
*Daspletosaurus*. And three years ago Currie went to the public with his
idea in the form of a book and documentary called Dino Gangs
<http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/jul/25/bunch-bones-gang-bloodthirsty-tyrannosaurs>.
“If dinosaurs hadn’t become extinct, would gangs of killer tyrannosaurs now
rule the world?”, the hyperbolic documentary asked.

At the time, I wasn’t sold on tyrannosaurs being communal carnivores. Just
because a whole bunch of dinosaurs ended up buried together doesn’t mean
that they actually lived and hunted together. A mass of dinosaur skeletons
– such as an *Albertosaurus* bonebed containing 12 individuals – can
contain elements from animals that died at different times or were brought
into a small area by unusual circumstances. Accumulations of dinosaur
bones represent the circumstances of death and burial more than clues about
life.

If evidence for social tyrannosaurs exists, it has to be in a less
ambiguous form. Tracks hold the most potential.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/tracks-hint-at-the-social-life-of-tyrant-dinosaurs

On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 7:14 AM Axel Emmermann <axel.emmermann at telenet.be>
wrote:

> 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
> <https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/events/training-zone/walking-training-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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