Could You Survive a T. Rex by Standing Still?

The movie said a T. rex can’t see you if you don’t move. Its skull says otherwise. In 2006, Kent Stevens reconstructed how meat-eating dinosaurs saw: T. rex had a 55° binocular field, wider than a modern hawk’s, which helps pick out prey that holds still. So you run? A 2017 computer model found that running would have overloaded its leg bones, so its top speed was a fast walk of about 20 km/h (12 mph). Older estimates run higher, but even 20 is a pace most of us can’t hold for long. On a bike, you can. Sources: Stevens, K. A. (2006), “Binocular vision in theropod dinosaurs,” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(2): 321–330 · Sellers, W. I. et al. (2017), “Investigating the running abilities of Tyrannosaurus rex using stress-constrained multibody dynamic analysis,” PeerJ 5:e3420, https://peerj.com/articles/3420/ T. rex model: “Tyrannosaurus Rex” by Arion Digital (2019), CC BY 4.0 (https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/tyrannosaurus-rex-a3384b114989470fb60f0500aeaae903), modified: rescaled, re-textured, rigged and animated. Fossil casts: Museum of the Earth / Digital Atlas of Ancient Life and the Smithsonian (CC0). #trex #dinosaurs #paleontology #whatif