The T. Rex dinosaurs were portrayed as clumsy beasts in Steven Spielbergs blockbuster Jurassic Park. But they were could easily outsmart a professional footballer like Beckham or Ronaldinho, a new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has revealed.
Washington, Aug 22 : The T. Rex dinosaurs were portrayed as clumsy beasts in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jurassic Park. But they were could easily outsmart a professional footballer like Beckham or Ronaldinho, a new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has revealed.
Scientists from the University of Manchester used a powerful supercomputer to calculate the running speeds of five meat-eating dinosaurs that varied in size from a 3 kg Compsognathus to a six-tonne Tyrannosaurus.
Findings revealed that the T. Rex could notch up speeds of up to 18 mph, fractionally quicker than a sportsman such as a professional footballer.
By comparison, the bipedal Compsognathus, could reach speeds of almost 40mph - five mph faster than the computer's estimate for the fastest living animal on two legs, the ostrich.
Study leaders, biomechanics expert Bill Sellers and palaeontologist Phil Manning said the accuracy of their results was due to the computer's ability to use data relating directly to each dinosaur.
"Previous research has relied on data from extant bipedal models to provide clues as to how fast dinosaurs could run. Such calculations can accurately predict the top speed of a six-tonne chicken but dinosaurs are not built like chickens and nor do they run like them," said Dr Sellers, who is based in Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences.
"Our research involved feeding information about the skeletal and muscular structure of the dinosaurs directly into the supercomputer so it could work out how the animals were best able to move," he said.
Dr Manning, a lecturer in palaeontology in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said, the figures produced by the team are the best estimate to date as to how fast these prehistoric animals could run.
"Since the movie Jurassic Park, scientists have questioned the speed of these dinosaurs and some have wondered whether Tyrannosaurus could have run at all. Our research, which used the minimum leg-muscle mass T. rex required for movement, suggests that while not incredibly fast, this carnivore was certainly capable of running and would have little difficulty in chasing down footballer David Beckham for instance," he said.
ANI