"So, this study covers some new ground in a clever way with an original model." "No one in their right mind has thought that dinosaurs had perfectly rigid tails (up/down or side/side), but it has been a neglected topic for locomotion," said Hutchinson, who was not involved in the new research. However, there is still some uncertainty to this range, as it focuses on the up-and-down tail movements, "and muscles - as well as side-to-side motions - are not considered," John Hutchinson, a professor of evolutionary biomechanics at The Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, told Live Science in an email. Photos: Newfound tyrannosaur had nearly 3-inch-long teeth Covering new ground Photos: Dinosaur's battle wounds preserved in Tyrannosaur skull "Depending on some of the assumptions regarding the ligaments and how the vertebrae rotate, you get slightly slower or faster speeds (1.79 to 3.67 mph ), but across the board, they're all slower than earlier estimates," he said. "Our baseline model had a preferred walking speed of 2.86 mph ," which was significantly slower than earlier estimates of walking speed, van Bijlert said in the email. They determined that Trix's step length would be 6.2 feet (1.9 m), then calculated walking speed by multiplying the step frequency with step length. ![]() To find that, the scientists took the step length of a tyrannosaur that was slightly smaller than Trix, scaling it up to Trix's size. rex, but you also need to know how much distance it travels with each step," van Bijlert said. "The tail model gives you a likely step frequency/rhythm for T. From this digital bone and ligament reconstruction, they created a biomechanical model of the tail. The study authors scanned and modeled Trix's tail bones, referencing marks on the well-preserved vertebrae that showed where ligaments attached. rex was an adult specimen known as "Trix," in the collection of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. Related: In images: A new look at T. rex and its relatives rex tail would then indicate the animal's step frequency during unhurried walking, the researchers wrote in the new study, published online April 21 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. When the rhythm of a swinging tail achieves resonance - "the biggest movement response with the least amount of effort" - that rhythm is known as the tail's "natural frequency," van Bijlert said. rex tail sways, it stores and releases energy through stretchy ligaments. "Because of this, we were highly intrigued by its role in the way that T. "This combination - passive suspension while active in locomotion - is unique to dinosaurs there are no animals alive today with this feature," van Bijlert explained. rex, the tail would have been passively suspended in the air but also actively engaged and naturally swaying up and down during walking. (Image credit: Rick Stikkelorum, Arthur Ulmann, Pasha van Bijlert) Passive and active rex walking speed by modeling the movement of its flexible tail. It does this through two large tail muscles - the caudofemoral muscles - that pull the legs backwards during each step." "Not only does it serve as a counter balance, the tail also produces a lot of the required force to move the body forward. "Dinosaur tails were vital to the way they moved around, in multiple ways," van Bijlert told Live Science in an email. ![]() rex's legs, scientists instead explored the role played by the vertical movement of the tyrannosaur's tail, said Pasha van Bijlert, a master's candidate studying paleo-biomechanics at the Free University of Amsterdam, and the lead author of the new study on T. rex's walking speed roughly between 4.5 and 6.7 mph (7.2 and 10.8 km/h), about as fast as a mediocre human runner.įor the new investigation, rather than focusing on T. rex's mass and hip height, sometimes incorporating stride length from preserved trackways. ![]() rex, a hefty specimen found in Saskatchewan, Canada, and nicknamed "Scotty," weighed in at a whopping 19,555 pounds (8,870 kg), Live Science previously reported.īut how fast could such a big animal move? Previously, researchers answered that question by looking at T. rex would have measured about 40 feet (12 meters) long, stood 12 feet (3.6 m) tall and weighed about 11,000 to 15,500 pounds (5,000 to 7,000 kilograms) on average, according to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
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