New research says T. Rex couldn't run

[JohnBrewer]

From my local university 

 

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/tyrannosaurus-rex-couldnt-run-says-new-research/

 

 

[RyanDye]

Here's why this makes me a little skeptical about these results.

#1 This has been retested many, many, times and as the article says there are very many wide ranges of results... #2 Why would a walking tyrannosaur need superb vision to fill a scavenger niche? 

Lastly, I highly doubt a new type of simulation never before used does not produce errors. However if retested and more evidence supports the idea this will be a very interesting discovery either way the new type of simulation should prove useful a very nice accomplishment!

[Troodon]

This is what I think about the paper ..........but will have to hear what theropod paleontologists gave to say.  Thanks for posting

 

[FossilDudeCO]

I would be interested in the opinion of @jpc 

 

[doushantuo]

Brusa010ScienceTyrannosaurReview.pdf

 

[doushantuo]

Hutchinson-etal2011-T.rex growth PLoS.pdf

[doushantuo]

part of my "methodology in science communication" curriculum "On the relative newness of things"(date of the issue enlarged by yours truly):

 

[jpc]

3 hours ago, FossilDudeCO said:

I would be interested in the opinion of @jpc 

 

I appreciate your curiosity, but i really don't know squat about biomechanics.  What i would like to see is how their techniques work on things like ostriches.  They even mention in the paper that it needs to be tested on modern animals.

[siteseer]

The thing that always bothered me about the "speedy Tyrannosaurus" idea is that running puts a lot of stress on your bones especially from the knees down.  I've read that it puts 3-4 times the amount of stress as walking because you are literally pounding the ground harder for increased speed.  I used to like to try to beat the 6-minute mile when I was in my 30's but when I got close (maybe 6 minutes, 8 seconds) I got shin splints and had to hold off for a while..

 

In the 80's the estimated weight of an adult T. rex was 3-5 tons so what would 9-15 tons of stress due to its feet?  Keep in mind that it ran on its toes.  It didn't run flat-footed like a human - more stress to the toes.  However, these days the weight estimates have drifted to over 6 tons and as high as 9 tons.  That seems like an incredibly high level of stress for its toe bones alone.    

 

Running would have been risky for such a large animal on two legs as well.  One bad step becoming even just a sprained ankle might have been a mortal wound and forget about what would happen in the event of a fall.  I imagine the reason not too many bipedal vertebrates reached that size is because it was near the physical limit of what their ancestors left possible.  They would have been formidable intimidating smaller predators but also surprisingly vulnerable.  

[Doctor Mud]

Very interesting.

 

Im not an expert on biomechanics. I think this paper seems to be fairly solid work, but is not definitive evidence that T. rex or similar animals could not run.

As is often the case with science it is hard to prove some things absolutely and the authors have even qualified their prediction with a "probably", not definitely.

 

The modeling looks sophisticated and compelling, but there are always assumptions that go into models. From my reading, the results of such modeling would be sensitive to these assumptions (e.g body mass of T. rex and maximum acceptable load on. T. rex femur). It would be useful to see how the selection of such initial conditions affected the results - a sensitivity analysis.

 

Do we know enough about the physics of dinosaur skeletons or their likely biomechanics?

 

Anyway - I think it is a useful contribution to the literature, but not definitive proof that T. rex could not run. 

 

Perhaps T. rex was a pace walker? Humans pace walking looks weird enough, imagine T. rex pace walking....

[doushantuo]

Here's the thing :heuristically speaking,a model doesn't prove anything.

 

 

[Coco]

On 08/08/2017 at 1:20 AM, siteseer said:

I used to like to try to beat the 6-minute mile when I was in my 30's but when I got close (maybe 6 minutes, 8 seconds) I got shin splints and had to hold off for a while..

 

Woh ! I need 9'12" to run on 1 mile when I am in great form (and if my translation is good : 1 mile = approximately 1,610 km)...

 

I think that the periostit arrives when we run a lot (often and on great distances). Yet I don't think that T. rex ran on great distances. If it ran on 30 or 40 meters it didn't have to suffer from it a lot.

 

Coco