Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How fast was Tyrannosaurus? Dinosaur speed is a complex biomechanical question, and paleontology is always advancing. Could a human outrun a Tyrannosaurus? We all know the iconic scene in Jurassic Park when Rexy is in hot pursuit of the Jeep, but how realistic is it? Could a ten-tonne bipedal predator really run at the 32 miles per hour that John Hammond claimed, or was that movie magic? If not, how fast was Tyrannosaurus rex? Tyrannosaurus is the most well-studied dinosaur out there, with dozens of specimens in various stages of completeness and over a century of research to its name. Part of its fame is due to its killing adaptations and impressive size, but it’s also just known from a huge sample size compared to other large theropods and is therefore much more practical to study. Much of the information we’ll be discussing is likely applicable to theropods in its overall weight class, like some of the big carcharodontosaurids, although tyrannosaurs did have some unique adaptations. Snively et al 2019 found that tyrannosaurs were pound for pound twice as agile as allosauroids, for example, thanks to higher proportional muscle mass. Tyrannosaurs, along with ornithomimids and other ostrich-morph theropods, also had a special adaptation for running called the “arctometatarsalian condition.” This means that their middle metatarsal, essentially the toe bone, is squished between the others. It increases shock absorption when running and indicates a capacity for greater speed over long periods of time.
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How fast was Tyrannosaurus? Dinosaur speed is a complex biomechanical question, and paleontology is always advancing. Could a human outrun a Tyrannosaurus? We all know the iconic scene in Jurassic Park when Rexy is in hot pursuit of the Jeep, but how realistic is it? Could a ten-tonne bipedal predator really run at the 32 miles per hour that John Hammond claimed, or was that movie magic? If not, how fast was Tyrannosaurus rex? Tyrannosaurus is the most well-studied dinosaur out there, with dozens of specimens in various stages of completeness and over a century of research to its name. Part of its fame is due to its killing adaptations and impressive size, but it’s also just known from a huge sample size compared to other large theropods and is therefore much more practical to study. Much of the information we’ll be discussing is likely applicable to theropods in its overall weight class, like some of the big carcharodontosaurids, although tyrannosaurs did have some unique adaptations. Snively et al 2019 found that tyrannosaurs were pound for pound twice as agile as allosauroids, for example, thanks to higher proportional muscle mass. Tyrannosaurs, along with ornithomimids and other ostrich-morph theropods, also had a special adaptation for running called the “arctometatarsalian condition.” This means that their middle metatarsal, essentially the toe bone, is squished between the others. It increases shock absorption when running and indicates a capacity for greater speed over long periods of time.
Join this channel to get access to perks:
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