Scientists have come to the conclusion that the T. rex could not run, contrary to decades of Hollywood portraying the animal moving at bone-breaking speeds in movies like "Jurassic Park."
Scientists at the University of Manchester in England examined the dinosaur's biomechanics and concluded that depictions of the Tyrannosaurus rex as a runner have been false all along, according to CBS News. Considering the animal's size and weight, T. rex likely even struggled to walk at a fast pace, let alone run, they said.
"The researchers have combined two separate biomechanical techniques, known as multibody dynamic analysis (MBDA) and skeletal stress analysis (SSA), into one simulation model, creating a new more accurate one," the university said in a news release about the study, which found that "running would simply break the dinosaur’s legs."
This comes after previous research estimated that these dinosaurs could move at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour, chasing fast-moving prey, according to Newsweek.
However, this new set of research suggests that the T. rex moved at a fairly slow pace and only ate slow-moving sauropods.
"Being limited to walking speeds contradicts arguments of high-speed pursuit predation for the largest bipedal dinosaurs like T. rex and demonstrates the power of Multiphysics approaches for locomotor reconstructions of extinct animals," said lead researcher Professor William Sellers, according to CBS News.
Sellers believes this new conclusion could help scientists further understand the biomechanics of other animals.
"Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the largest bipedal animals to have ever evolved and walked the earth. So it represents a useful model for understanding the biomechanics of other similar animals," he said. "Therefore, these findings may well translate to other long-limbed giants, but this idea should be tested alongside experimental validation work on other bipedal species."
The T. rex was discovered in the 1800s, Newsweek noted.
Studies dating back to the 1980s claimed that the T. rex had a very fast running speed and a high level of athleticism.
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