Investigating the running abilities of Tyrannosaurus rex using stress-constrained multibody dynamic analysis

PeerJ

article

William I. Sellers¹  Stuart B. Pond²  Charlotte A. Brassey³  Philip L. Manning¹  Karl T. Bates⁵ 

[1] School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester;Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton;School of Science and the Environment, The Manchester Metropolitan University;Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston;Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Aging and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool

关键词: Computer simulation;    Locomotion;    Dinosaur;    Biomechanics;    MBDA;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.3420

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The running ability of Tyrannosaurus rex has been intensively studied due to its relevance to interpretations of feeding behaviour and the biomechanics of scaling in giant predatory dinosaurs. Different studies using differing methodologies have produced a very wide range of top speed estimates and there is therefore a need to develop techniques that can improve these predictions. Here we present a new approach that combines two separate biomechanical techniques (multibody dynamic analysis and skeletal stress analysis) to demonstrate that true running gaits would probably lead to unacceptably high skeletal loads in T. rex. Combining these two approaches reduces the high-level of uncertainty in previous predictions associated with unknown soft tissue parameters in dinosaurs, and demonstrates that the relatively long limb segments of T. rex—long argued to indicate competent running ability—would actually have mechanically limited this species to walking gaits. Being limited to walking speeds contradicts arguments of high-speed pursuit predation for the largest bipedal dinosaurs like T. rex, and demonstrates the power of multiphysics approaches for locomotor reconstructions of extinct animals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY