Re: T. rex vs Edmontosaurus speed

[rjtaylor68@comcast.net (Rob Taylor)]

Strip the recycled footage and post-commercial recaps from the two recent 
National Geographic documentaries and you're not really left with much, but as 
a computer programmer, I'll admit that I was wholly fascinated by the brief 
glimpses of the software used to predict Dakota's gait and maximum running 
speed. Ultimately the software was fed data on both Dakota's musculature and 
skeletal anatomy, and presumably took them into account in combination. 
Further, a statement was made suggesting that accurate results were obtained 
when supplying data for living animals, with a few onscreen examples provided.

No doubt some of us (myself included) question the wisdom of releasing 
information on Dakota to the mainstream media outlets prior to the publication 
of a peer-reviewed journal article, but having watched Dino Autopsy, I 
certainly didn't get the impression that the speed estimates were purely 
conjecture. Granted, having similar data on the musculature of T. rex would 
allow for the best comparison, but I've seen plenty of published speed 
estimates for T. rex, and know that some portion of them have actual science 
behind them. In my mind at least, the claim that Dakota could have outrun a T. 
rex is not wholly unreasonable, but it would be easier to react to if we were 
reading about it in a paper first.

It would be interesting to know whether the software could indeed accurately 
predict speed in Jim's horse and dog scenarios, below.

Rob Taylor
rjtaylor68@comcast.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jrc" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>
To: <trex_kid@hotmail.com>
Cc: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: T. rex vs Edmontosaurus speed


> Re speed vs. musculature, let's for the moment make a loose general 
> analogy with other animals, horses for example.  If musculature is 
> directly related to speed, that would imply that Belgians, Percherons, and 
> Clydesdales are faster than Thoroughbreds.  Is that in fact, the case?  In 
> a similar vein, would a mastiff be expected to outrun a greyhound or 
> whippet?
> JimC
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Brandon Pilcher" <trex_kid@hotmail.com>
> To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 7:50 AM
> Subject: T. rex vs Edmontosaurus speed
>
>
>>
>>including the conjecture that it could have outrun T. rex (based on 
>>examination of Dakota's muscles).