Re: T-Rex the scavenger (fwd)

[sean.kerns@sdrc.com (Snake)]

> 
> don't forget the analyses by alexander and lockley who suggest speeds
> of close to 40 km/h for T. rex, and the arms that could hold 454 kg
> of squirming prey according to a mechanical analogue analysis performed
> about 4 years ago.
> b
> 

Yes; those arms may not have been very long, but I wouldn't want to
arm-wrestle Rex. I like the idea that the arms were shortened to be
just as big as they needed to be for holding prey, the idea being
to take weight off the fron end and give Rexy a better CG for 
running faster. Makes perfect sense to me. What I've seen would
indicate that velociraptors and such would be clumsy by comparison.
True, as someone pointed out, the danger of injury in a fall would
be great, but given their weight distribution, they might be about
as likely to fall down as a Weeble.
Also, something I saw
recently kind of snapped me to reality. All those calculations we 
make for dino speed based on track length - those tracks are in
MUD. Nothing runs its fastest in mud. Now, if you look at those
sppeds in mud - already pretty impressive, and then think about
what that might translate into on fast, dry, open ground, the
thought is truly sobering. I'm not sure if those guys really could 
have outrun that Rex in Jeep. The futility of trying to outrun
one of those things on foot is staggering; you'd never have a chance.
Sean (maybe glad they are extinct after all...)

=====================================================================
|    Sean R. "Snake" Kerns              e-mail: sean.kerns@sdrc.com |  
|    DoD# 1052   '48 CJ-2A   '79 F-250 4x4 429   '93 750 Virago     |
|    Structural Dynamics Research Corporation    '79 AQHA           | 
|    These opinions aren't SDRC's...  They may not even be MINE...  |
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