Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Slow Runner

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Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Slow Runner

Ever since we were young we have been fascinated by the dinosaurs. We have played with dinosaurs as children, watched documentaries as adults with interest, and watching movies with enjoyment. No dinosaur from the past strikes more fear in the present day to the average person then that of Tyrannosaurus Rex. For decades children have played with dinosaurs and had T-Rex dominating other dinosaurs by chasing them down and destroying them. We have seen it time and time again in movies. In Jurassic Park we saw T-Rex terrorize humans, cars, and other dinosaurs. We have even dreamt about it, but if a recent study is correct we are false in our fears.

The article Tyrannosaurus Rex was a Slowpoke by John Roach relieves us of our fears when it states that, “the Cretaceous landscape was filled with large, lumbering creatures that any human with a fast car or bike or maybe even a quick sprint could outpace” (Roach). He tells us that T-Rex, “did not have the leg strength to run very fast, if at all, according to a computer model developed by two experts in the mechanical movements of living creatures,” and, “bring the discipline of biomechanics to the long and at times contentious debate over just how fast the largest of the largest creatures ever to roam Earth could run.”

In an article entitled Tyrannosaurus was not a fast runner, those experts, John R. Hutchison and Mariano Garcia provide us with a detailed account of a recent study they did. Their study is described in an article entitled Biomechanics: Walking with tyrannosaurs by Andrew A. Biewener. Biewener states that Hutchinson and Garcia, “introduce a new biomechanical approach,” to the question of dinosaur movement and provide an, “a...

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In conclusion, the recent study published by John R. Hutchinson and Mariano Garcia entitled Tyrannosaurus was not a fast runner, if it is true, has shattered what we have come to understand about Tyrannosaurus Rex. T-Rex was not a fast runner as popular movies have suggested, because it didn’t have the amount of extensor muscle needed to support itself for such activities. Maybe, sometime, another study will come along that counteracts this new study, but until then it appears that we have been wrong about T-Rex.

Works Cited

Biewener, Andrew A. “Biomechanics: Walking with Tyrannosaurs.” Nature 28 Feb 2002: 971-973

Hutchinson, John R., Garcia, Mariano “Tyrannosaurus was not a fast runner.” Nature 28 Feb 2002: 1018-1021

Roach, John “Tyrannosaurus Rex was a Slowpoke.” National Geographic News.

27 Feb. 2002. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com>

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