No quick turns for T. rex, according to a report in BBC News, 4 June 2007. Scientists at Stanford University have used a computer model to calculate the weight of a Tyrannosaurus rex and work out how fast it could move. Their results indicated that it would have weighed between 6 and 8 tons and had a top speed of 25 – 40 km per hour (15 – 25 mph). They also estimated where the animal’s centre of gravity would be and how fast it would have been at changing direction. Such a massive animal would have had to overcome a large amount of inertia and would have taken one or two seconds to make a quarter turn. This means it would not have been good at catching small, agile prey. Paul Barrett, of the Natural History Museum, London, commented: “This is another finding that undermines the kind of idea of T. rex as a super-predator.”
Editorial Comment: This is not the first time biomechanists have questioned the ability of T. rex to run after prey, but this study fits with other evidence, such as the shallow rooted teeth that T. rex was more likely to be a scavenger than a mighty hunter. These findings fit with Biblical history that in the beginning all animals ate plants. T. rex would have had no trouble running down watermelons or other vegetables. After the world became corrupted because of man’s rebellion against God, some animals became scavengers or ate eggs and babies. T. rex may have been one of these. (Ref. Tyrannosaurs, diets, biomechanics)
Evidence News, 29 August 2007