What would happen if Tyrannosaurus rex lived in today's African prairie?

Tyrannosaurus rex lived in Cretaceous North America, with an average adult weight of about 9 tons and fed on Triceratops. Now there are no animals that big on the land, and if Tyrannosaurus rex really crosses to the present, it can only make do with African elephants.

Tyrannosaurus rex recovery map

The average weight of African elephants is about 3. 1 ton, and the average weight of Kruger large population males is 4.7 tons. The largest scientific research record is shoulder height of 3.48 meters and weight of 6.85 tons. Now it is the largest land animal, and it is only a tiny one in front of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

According to experts' estimation, Triceratops weighed an average of 5.3 tons, and the largest individual reached 8-9 tons. In 20 16, a fully adult triceratops skeleton was found in Wyoming, with an estimated weight of 6.7 tons, and two sub-adults weighed 4.95 tons and 5.7 tons respectively. It can be seen that Triceratops is much bigger than African elephants.

African elephants are far less defensive against Tyrannosaurus Rex than Triceratops. Tyrannosaurus rex has the most powerful jaw on land, and it takes only a few minutes to kill an elephant. Elephants can only poke with ivory, but ivory is bent downward, which is very effective against rhinoceroses smaller than themselves, and is not suitable for dealing with big guys like Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Tyrannosaurus rex vs triceratops

Triceratops' horns are upward, which is much more effective. There is a fossil record of 5 tons of Triceratops repelling 8 tons of Tyrannosaurus Rex. This triceratops has a broken horn and a broken neck shield, but there are signs of healing, which proves that it survived from the mouth of Tyrannosaurus Rex. If an elephant beats Tyrannosaurus Rex, there is basically no hope of survival.

Some scholars used to describe Tyrannosaurus Rex as a slow-moving scavenger, but now there is one? Wake up? Come and give it back? The most terrible land predator in the history of the earth. Eating bones is the basic skill of scavengers, but Tyrannosaurus rex's teeth are not suitable for handling bones at all. Its teeth are long and sharp, but the length is relatively thin, and it is easy to break when biting hard objects. So Tyrannosaurus Rex, like cats today, mainly ate fresh meat and was an active predator.

Tyrannosaurus Rex is much bigger than African elephants, but it is more flexible, thanks to the hollow skeleton and airbag structure of dinosaurs, and its weight gain potential is greater than that of mammals.

Compared with African elephants, African elephants are close to the largest scientific research record.

Today, the hind legs of most wild animals are curled backwards. The advantage of this shape is that it can make sudden movements and is suitable for running and jumping. However, with the increase of body size, the pressure on this hind leg will be very great, because when the linear body size doubles, the weight will become 8 times and the cross-sectional area of muscle will only be 4 times. The hind leg muscles of giant Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops expanded in a large proportion to support their heavy bodies, while still maintaining the convenience of bending their hind legs.

The elephant's practice is to give up the back-bent hind leg and be as straight as the front leg, so that the hind leg does not need a lot of muscles, but it also sacrifices speed. Therefore, the elephant has become the only beast that cannot gallop today. In fact, it is heavy and must be moved very carefully. Once you fall, it's hard to stand up, even a shallow ditch can't cross. The elephant exhibition area of London Zoo can separate the elephant from the audience by a shallow ditch.

This determines that the speed of elephants is not as good as that of Tyrannosaurus Rex. According to hearsay and visual observation, early hunters speculated that the speed of African elephants could reach 37km/h, which was wrong. The speed of 14 African elephants and 4 Asian elephants was measured on the spot. It is found that their speed is 3.6~2 1km/h, and the fastest is a 29-year-old female elephant, with a shoulder height of 2.6 meters and a weight of 3.3 tons. The speed of Tyrannosaurus rex is estimated by scholars to be 24-28 km/h, so it is easy and enjoyable to catch up with elephants.

African elephant

If you want to fight, you can't run. If the elephant can really meet Tyrannosaurus Rex, it will be desperate, and it will be a piece of meat.

Can Tyrannosaurus Rex survive for a long time?

Tyrannosaurus rex lived in the late Cretaceous, when the oxygen concentration was close to 30%, which was 4 times of the current 1.4 times. Tyrannosaurus rex's respiratory and circulatory system may have adapted to this high-oxygen environment, and it should be uncomfortable today. For example, if people are placed in an environment where the oxygen content is 40%( 15%) lower than today, they will feel severe fatigue and depression, and their ability to act and think will decrease.

The carbon dioxide concentration in Cretaceous was 0. 17%, which was four times that of today and seven times that of before the industrial revolution. At that time, it was warmer than now, and the temperature difference between north and south was smaller. There are no glaciers at the poles, so there is more precipitation. Angiosperms have appeared, but the vegetation is still dominated by coniferous forests. It is difficult to know what kind of habitat Tyrannosaurus Rex likes, whether it is ambush or hunting, and whether it can adapt to the environment of African grasslands or rainforests is still unknown.

The landscape of Aralia elata forest in Chile today may be similar in Cretaceous.

Tyrannosaurus rex is no match for human guns, but no animal in nature can threaten Tyrannosaurus rex today. There used to be a terrier, and some netizens said that the Northeast Tiger could kill Tyrannosaurus Rex. This sentence was taken as a joke. How many lions can kill Tyrannosaurus Rex? How many can't be killed! The weight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is equivalent to forty or fifty lions, and the absolute quality gap cannot be compensated by quantity.

Perhaps the biggest problem is food. Nowadays, thick-skinned beasts such as elephants and rhinoceroses have seriously declined, and the number is small. Even a ton of toothed beasts and half a ton of prehistoric cats can't keep alive, let alone a Tyrannosaurus rex weighing more than ten tons. The energy transfer efficiency of food chain is only 10 ~ 20%. At present, there are 15000 African elephants in Africa. According to the calculation of 3. 1 ton, only 500- 1000 Tyrannosaurus Rex can be fed roughly.

T. rex su bone repair

All animals are too small except elephants. Rhinoceros and hippopotamus are like tigers catching roe deer against Tyrannosaurus Rex, zebras and antelopes are like tigers catching rabbits and mice. Therefore, the whole of Africa can feed more than 1000 Tyrannosaurus Rex, with low density and few mating opportunities, so it is very problematic to maintain the population for a long time.

Putting Tyrannosaurus Rex in Africa today, there is a high probability that it will not live long. Tyrannosaurus rex is very strong, but it can't pass the food, oxygen, climate and vegetation.