The bones in the tail, like the bones in our necks, are connected to each other by ligaments. “You can compare it to a suspension bridge,” Van Bellert said. “A suspension bridge has a ton of muscle.”
With each step, the tail moves up and down, which means that, like swinging, it has a natural frequency that resonates. To find out this hesitation, Van Bijlert and his professors Anne Schulp of Utrecht and Knoek van Soest of VU built a 3D model of the Trix. Tyrannosaurus rex Which is on display at the Naturalis, Leiden’s Natural History Museum.
Then they added digital muscles to the famous skeleton and on this model they can perform biomechanical analyzes. From this they deduced the natural frequency and walking speed that Trex chose: 4.6 kilometers per hour. This is just below the average for humans, which ranges from 4.8 to 5.1 kilometers per hour. So if you have a Terex as a pet, you’ll be able to get out of it without any problem – in terms of speed, anyway.
“There were actually some studies that examined the walking speed of dinosaurs, but they basically looked at the legs and ignored the tail – which is exactly what makes dinosaurs so unique,” Van Bellert said. “It usually leads to much higher walking speeds. The speed we calculated is lower, but it is similar to that of other animals.”
It’s not clear yet if this also means you can escape from a hungry T. rex. After all, scientists are still researching the possible top speed of a dinosaur. Previous studies reported that the T. rex would not race 20 mph.
Van Bellert, Van Soest, and Schollp published their study in the journal Royal Society for Open Science. Sources: Press release from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Telex from Belga and Reuters.
Video from Naturalis with an animation of a T. rex driving around.
