Tag: Triceratops

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“Terrible Lizards” or Dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the Dinosaurs or “Terrible Lizards”
In the final days of 2022, we are looking back at some of the major topics we have previously covered.

People are always curious about dinosaurs. These dinosaurs, or “terrible lizards,” are much more than ancient animals that fascinate children. Most adults also find them fascinating and can name some dinosaur genera. (For example, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Megalosaurus.) Dinosaur paleontologists are constantly discovering and naming more dinosaurs until we now have more than 900 known species in more than 300 genera. People want to know when the dinosaurs lived and if there were any people around when those dinosaurs or “terrible lizards” roamed planet Earth. Here are some links to previous discussions on the topic of dinosaurs:

Why Dinosaurs?

How Many Gallons of Gas Does One Dinosaur Make?

Why Did Dinosaurs Exist?

Where Do We Find Dinosaurs Mentioned in the Bible?

Dinosaurs in Genesis

Our understanding of dinosaurs brings up the questions people are always asking about the age of the Earth. We have dealt with that before and will have some links to that topic tomorrow.

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Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Vulture

Tyrannosaurus Rex
We tend to view Tyrannosaurus rex as a 20-foot tall flesh eater who ran down its prey. Some have called this dinosaur “the most efficient carnivore who ever lived.” Science fiction movies like Jurassic Park have probably been the main source of this image, but the fact is that T. rex was nowhere near that fast.

Past studies of T. rex suggested that its huge mass–in the vicinity of nine tons–prevented it from running down much of anything. The muscle strength needed to accelerate that mass is simply not available to any form of life. Now simulations of acceleration and bone strength have verified that understanding. A speed of about 12 mph would have been the top limit for T. Rex and for only a short distance. That means a human could easily outrun a T. rex.

Tyrannosaurus rex was probably more of a scavenger than a hunter. There were other slow-moving dinosaurs such as Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, and Ankylosaurus that T. rex might have been able to catch. It is more likely that the T. rex population were the vultures of their day, not the lions of their day.

God created dinosaurs for a purpose, and every year we understand more about how they helped sustain the ecosystem that produced many of the resources we need. Every little boy seems to be fascinated with the media presentations of these creatures, but they really were not that glamorous.
–John N. Clayton © 2017