Jurassic World Movie News

Small Length Increase Means Big Weight Gain For T.rex?

Rex Fan 684

MemberCompsognathusJune 21, 20143226 Views25 Replies

So lately I noticed the debate of what the biggest theropods were has been brought back up.

 

Tangent time...

 

To be honest I thought we were past that point and that we all knew how everyone felt and that we weren't gonna try and convince each other otherwise, but I guess not.

 

Anyways, with that out of the way, I made an interesting observation(I think it's interesting at least) about T.rex weight. So the holotype specimen(on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History) is 39 ft long and weighs an estimated 7.3 tons. Big animal right? Well "Sue"(Chicago Field Museum) is about 40-42 ft long(depends who you ask, so we'll meet in the middle and say 41 ft), yet the most commonly accepted weight for "her" is 9.1 tons. So despite only a length increase of 2 ft or so, T.rex can gain nearly 2 tons in weight! That means those fragmentary specimens that are bigger than "Sue" like UCMP 118742, C.Rex, F.Rex who are estimated to be some 43-46 ft long could reach unprecedented weights! Now, this is just an observation, but still very interesting if you ask me.

 

Holotype

 

"Sue"

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Acro Rex
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*sigh* really?

Those are the mounted casts of those two specimens. They are not the original fossils, and have been elongated. Most mounted skeletons are...

Sue at 9 tons? That's a bit on the ridiculous side. In the study i believe you got that estimate from, they placed unbalanced tissue, a bit too much of it..Here's a model:

They made Sue overly fat!! how can you argue otherwise?

Also, can you provide evidence(other then this ridiculous study) citing Tyrannosaurus at any more then 7 tons?

So despite only a length increase of 2 ft or so, T.rex can gain nearly 2 tons in weight!

That's wild speculation, individual weights vary animal to animal!.Can you show that this is evident in related taxa? for example...Daspletosaurus or Tarbosaurus? if so, that would make more sense. For just one species though....highly improbable.

Greg Pauls estimates of ~6t for Sue are more accurate. He usually "Shrink wraps" his dinosaurs though, doesn't account for tissue, organs, etc. Some where around 7 tons is more accurate IMO.

 

"Our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?" - John Hammond
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Rex Fan 684
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Can't speak for Sue, but considering I've seen the holotype, I can tell you it's the original skeleton(the skull is a replica, the real one is in the lab, but the rest of it isn't).

 

Here's another source for a 9 ton esitmate for Sue...

 

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026037

 

In this PLOS ONE article, it mentions her weighing ~9500 kg or 9-10 tons. How bout that?!

 

While doing some digging(no pun intended), I found something else. Wankel Rex(also known as Devil Rex and MOR 555) is 38 ft long and an estimated 5-6 tons. The holotype is only a foot longer and weighes 1-2 tons more.

 

As a side note, the specimes known as Stan and Scotty are all estimate to be about 40 ft long(40.1 ft for Stan and 40 ft for Scotty). They'd both weigh in the range of 7.5-8.5 tons.

 

Oh, and who says the model you say is so fat is actually fat? Could just as easily be muscle and you know what, muscle weighs more than fat!

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Acro Rex
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that paper you just put up was the one i was talking about.

that is just a calculation method that is new. it hasnt been applied to other dinosaurs yet. 

if T.Rex weigh more then so would other dinosaurs under this new method of calculating weight. So far they have not calculated the weights of Spino, Giga, Carcha, or any other dino. Using also square cubes law, it is all pointing to a very large Spino which this new Calculating weight method is saying as well that the dinos were somewhat heavier. I still hold my position on the fact too much unbalanced tissue being used.

My question for you is: those new methods give T rex a brand new weight class, it make T rex become much heavier than earlier methods. So how reliable those new methods really are? Do you think 9,5 tonnes for Sue and 8 tonnes for Stan are possible? Do you think it is quite liberal or very accurate ?

 Those new estimates give us quite "fat" models for T rex:

 The 2009 method for Stan model:

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2009/02/090220110912-large.jpg

 

_ The 2011 method for Sue model:

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2011/10/111012185634-large.jpg

I hope you know animals aren't truly all muscle, it would be a mixture of fat and muscle. More fat then anything else.

 And between the 2009 method and the 2011 method, which is likely to be the more accurate method?

I will conceit this;

All animals have quite a range of "normal" adult weights -- for example, I weight nearly twice as much as my sister, and neither of us is considered "fat" It's perfectly possible that BOTH these estimates are correct, for different individuals. I just have my doubts on some of these estimates, if you could provide some evidence(besides that paper) to clarify Tyrannosaurus actually got that large, it would be appreciated!

Until then, i stick by what i've stated in this and previous posts.

"Our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?" - John Hammond
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Rex Fan 684
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I don't care what you stick to just as long as you don't care what I stick to.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Lord Vader
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No need to argue over this. Everyone has different ways of thinking when it comes to theropod size, so don't get all pissy just because someone disagrees with you. This is for both of you as I prefer to not be one sided.

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Rex Fan 684
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BTW, just because a method is new, does not mean it's bad. If that's how T.rex was built, with more musle and fat than first realized, then that's how it was built. 

 

MrHappy, believe me, I try to stay calm. It's not necessarily Acro. It's just that I(and you too) have put up with a lot of crap because of "other members." When I see someone start to go down that same path, I get worried. Hope that makes sense.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Lord Vader
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Yep. That's why I can't even look at a Rex vs Spino without cringing, wondering if something is going to happen, but damn I'm ready of it does. 

 

Forgot to say this earlier, but it is an interesting method. 

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Acro Rex
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that method would make all of them look fat though, i've read the paper extensively. A lot of unnecessary tissue going on there..

Though Greg Paul's estimations and skeletals are shrinkwrapped; these two estimation methods are at ends of two extremes. From that, is where i get my estimations and what not.

"Our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?" - John Hammond
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Raptor-401
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Not Again...


IT'S TIME TO DU-DU-DU-DU-DUEL!!!

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Rex Fan 684
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"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Raptor-401
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You really like that picture, don't you?

IT'S TIME TO DU-DU-DU-DU-DUEL!!!

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Rex Fan 684
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You got that right, haha

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98
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Raptor-401
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I know, you always seize your oppurtunity to use that picture. I wouldn't be surprised if it was your desktop picture...

IT'S TIME TO DU-DU-DU-DU-DUEL!!!

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Carnosaur
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Interesting, i didn't know the rex holotype was that large...

And guys, i think if we keep cool, and don't flip shit on what others post, we can have a pretty calm and collected debate. Ain't no need for the hostility!

Nature doesn't deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

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Sci-Fi King25
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The muscles make it look a bit on the chubby side.

“Banana oil.”- George Takei, Gigantis: The Fire Monster

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**Al**
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thanks Carnosaur, ;) and well said.

The world will spin well past our last breath, but I will always care about you

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Raptor-401
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Well said Carnosaur

IT'S TIME TO DU-DU-DU-DU-DUEL!!!

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Jezza
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2 ft. equals two more tons? Hell no. I don't believe that for one second. The sizing methods used aren't all that trustworthy. I don't believe we'll ever no the exact sizs of any dinosaur. I believe that rex was 40-45 ft. long, 16-17 ft. tall, and 8-9 t (and I'm being generous with that weight). That accounts for the skeleton, organs, fat, muscle, and all the other shit in a t-rex.

I don't think 2 more feet would mean two more tons, that is ridiculous. For the most part, I think Acro Rex is right (except for the 7 t thing). I also think that everyone can be calm and rational. So suck it up and deal with each others' opinions! Have a nice day. :)

Youre fat, and I'm not sugarcoating it cause you'd probably eat that too.

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Carnosaur
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@Jezza It has to do with individual weight within a species, not every animal weighs the same! Sue was a much more robust Tyrannosaurus then say Black Beauty, or even Bucky. Thus, Sue would weigh more. What this post simply means is Sue was larger and longer then the holotype...at least i think

Nature doesn't deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

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Lord Vader
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I think that perhaps as a Tyrannosaurus got longer, it got more robust. It makes sense, does it not? An adult Tyrannosaurus is muscle on top of muscle, while a juvenile is graceful, slender, lightly built. So, as one got older, it would get bigger and more heavily built. 

 

That said, not all individuals of the same size are going to weigh the same. It all depends on how well they ate, how often they walked around or hunted, etc. For example, a Tyrannosaurus that followed its main source of food around would be more muscular than a Tyrannosaurus that would lie in wait as it would be more active.

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