Apr 21, 2021 15:00:00

Tyrannosaurus walking speed may have been as slow as a 'walking human'

The movie '

Jurassic Park ' portrayed other dinosaurs and humans running away from Tyrannosaurus , but a new study suggests that Tyrannosaurus was 'moving as slowly as a human on foot' due to its physical structure. The sex was shown.

Walk the Dinosaur
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g42g7aSmlgCNptjVowfpx2a7UgLO69YU

Never mind outrunning a T. rex — you could probably outwalk it | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/t-rex-slow-walker-tail.html

T. rex walked surprisingly slowly, new study finds --CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/20/world/t-rex-walked-slowly-study-scn/index.html

Tyrannosaurus, which existed in the late Cretaceous, is thought to be a large carnivorous dinosaur with a total length of 12 meters, a height of 3.6 meters, and a weight of 5 to 7 tons. In the movie, Tyrannosaurus runs around and attacks its prey, but in recent years, considering the size of the body, the movement speed of Tyrannosaurus is not fast, and it is thought that it is 16 to 40 km at the maximum.

Existing studies have also shown that walking speeds are calculated from the height and stride length of the tyrannosaurus buttocks, which is about 7.2 to 10.8 km / h, or about the size of a human runner.

The new research was simulated by a research team including Pasha van Beyrat , a master's student at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This time, the research team focused on the movement of the 'tail' rather than the height and legs of the Tyrannosaurus.

The person in the photo is Mr. Beirat.

'For dinosaurs, the tail is essential for walking around,' said Beilat. The dinosaurs were used not only to balance their tails, but also to generate propulsion to move their bodies forward. Tyrannosaurus stood on two legs and walked, swinging his tail up and down. Beilato and his colleagues decided to investigate the role of the tail in the walking of Tyrannosaurus, saying that such movements are unique to dinosaurs.

The research team used adult Tyrannosaurus specimens stored at

the Naturalis Biodiversity Center as a model for simulation. The research team scanned the tail bone of the specimen, built a 3D model while referring to the position of the ligaments attached to the vertebrae, and simulated the movement of the tail to determine the walking speed.

The Tyrannosaurus specimen 'Trix' preserved at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center can be found below.

Spotlight: 3d T. rex --YouTube


As a result, it was shown that the baseline of the walking speed of Tyrannosaurus is about 4.6 km / h. Researchers believe that Tyrannosaurus was basically moving at a slower speed than previously shown, although there is a swing range of 2.88 to 5.9 km / h depending on how the vertebrae and ligaments move. I will.

A 3D model of a moving Tyrannosaurus created by Beilato et al. Can be viewed by clicking on the image below.

However, the study is incomplete because it doesn't take into account the movement of other muscles or the left-right sway of the tail, says John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary University. On the other hand, this model is also expected to be useful for understanding the ecology of Tyrannosaurus in the future when combined with other approaches.

Apart from the above, a research team at the University of Arkansas in the United States has shown in a new study that Tyrannosaurus may have been hunting in groups. This may have been indicated by the discovery of multiple Tyrannosaurus bones from the same location. On the other hand, the research team said, 'As the environment became more severe, the habitat of Tyrannosaurus may have concentrated, and further evidence is needed to conclude that Tyrannosaurus was acting in groups.'

Tyrannosaurs may have hunted in packs like wolves, new research has found | Dinosaurs | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/apr/19/tyrannosaurs-may-have-hunted-in-packs-like-wolves-new-research-has-found