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T. rex or Acro: Which one is faster?
Topic Started: Aug 3 2015, 03:31 PM (1,336 Views)
MightyKharza
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Omnivore
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Okay, so I've gotten myself into a little debate with an Acrocanthosaurus fanboy on the "Monsters Resurrected" video on youtube. Perhaps I was wrong to do so, but I basically pointed out that Acro had no advantages over T. rex, except for its forearms. This guy comes up and states that Acro was faster. I went on to argue that tyrannosaurids in general were better adapted for high speeds than carnosaurs were (having longer tibia, metatarsals and a specially adapted "compressed" central metatarsal), and that Acro wouldn't have needed to be that fast in any case, being a sauropod specialist and all. The user made a big deal over how T. rex's max speed was 20 mph, whereas Acro's cousins could manage 30.

Basically, I'd like to know what cousins he's referring to, and if this higher speed can be inferred to Acro. Sources would be more than welcome.

NOTE: Don't hate on me if I've made basic mistakes. I've only recently started taking an interest in dinosaurs, and the only books I've read so far are Heresies, Predatory dinosaurs and the Princeton Field Guide, all a little outdated.
Edited by MightyKharza, Aug 3 2015, 03:36 PM.
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Spinodontosaurus
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He is most likely referring to a study that estimated Giganotosaurus (?) could attain speeds of something like 30 mph without becoming unstable. However, that is not the same as actually estimating it to run that fast in life, and even if it was it would be unwise to compare it to estimates for Tyrannosaurus achieved trough different methods. Furthermore, Acrocanthosaurus has really short legs compared to Giganotosaurus and would have been nearly half a meter shorter at the hips (ignoring the extended neural spines on both), so even if Giganotosaurus was as faster or faster than Tyrannoaurus, Acrocanthosaurus probably wouldn't have been.

Tyrannosaurus is almost certainly the fastest giant theropod for the reasons you mentioned as well having absolutely enormous thighs, and when comparing it to Acrocanthosaurus specifically then it also has longer legs outright. Not that running speed would have any real bearing on a face-to-face fight like I assume this argument revolved around.
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SpinoInWonderland
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IIRC Acrocanthosaurus is regarded as a relatively slow theropod. Wikipedia cites this:

Quote:
 
Naish, Darren; Hutt, Stephen; Martill, David M. (2001). "Saurischian Dinosaurs 2: Theropods". Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. London: The Palaeontological Association. pp. 242–309.


I was wondering if anyone can confirm this.
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Delude
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I can't seem to find anything about that source on Google, book or otherwise. Hm. It seems interesting.
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The supersaurus
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oh.......... didn't know acrcanthosaurus was slow.....
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