Tyrannosaurus Rex in the Movies
 

I just need to vent, to get this off of my chest.

Tyrannosaurus Rex is the most popular dinosaur to appear in movies. Ignoring the fact that they existed during a time that humans did not, when a Tyrannosaurus appears in a movie they have an insatiable appetite for humans. They always seem to go through a great deal of effort to eat human flesh. O.k., I understand it's the movies, but to the folks who make these movies - do they realize that a Tyrannosaurus Rex is estimated to weigh between 10,000 to 16,000 pounds? Compare that to an average human of about 180 pounds, and then think about how much effort a Tyrannosaurus Rex would put into hunting, chasing, fighting (gorillas, other dinosaurs, armies, etc) for a human? Doing the math a human would be about 1% of the body weight of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Personally, if I went hunting for a 2 pound squirrel and a Grizzly Bear got involved or anything involving rocket propelled missles, I would probably let the grizzly bear or whomever have the squirrel and drive to McDonald's and get a Quarter Pounder Value Meal, with cheese.

Thanks, for listening.

There aren't enough Tyrannosaurus threads on TFP.

Tyrannasaurs were scavengers, mostly due to their size. While this meant that their main source of food was scaring other predators away from their victims, it also meant a lot of snacking between finding carcasses. Maybe we should look at Jurassic Park as it's probably the best example.

1) The electrified fence loses power and the T. Rex wonders out after having a snack (goat). It's probably still pretty damned hungry. It sees the Jeeps, which I'm sure it was transported in after birth to get from the hatchery to the area of the compound it would be housed in, so it likely is aware that there are creatures in the Jeeps. It investigates and suddenly sees a bipedal mammal run into the bathroom and it follows, out of instinct and because it's hungry. It eats the lawyer and is still hungry, but it realizes that there are small and edible creatures in the Jeeps.

2) The T. Rex encounters Sattler, Malcolm and Muldoon in an open Jeep and pursues, but only for about a minute because it realizes that despite the delicious a la cart meal's easy accessibility due to the open top, it's exhausting keeping up with a vehicle that can drive hundreds of miles at a time... and it breaks off the chase quickly.

Those were Ford Explorers.

Lawyers, I'm guessing hold little in nutritional value.

Again...Ford Explorers.

Now that was a Jeep. :D

Actually. Only because it would have made for a short movie.

T. Rex doesn't want to be fed. T. Rex wants to hunt.

I see where you're coming from, ace, on the issue of feeding myself with tiny food. It's like (okay, look, it's Shark Week, okay?) the Whale Shark, the largest member of the shark family. It dines exclusively on zooplankton, which it strains from the seawater. 50-foot long critter... subsisting on teeeeeeny biological floaties. Staggers the mind.

Perhaps T-Rex is doing it more to assert itself as the dominant species atop the food chain rather than for a satisfying meal.

Oh yeah.

'Ol Rex was just playing with his new toys in JP. Now, Velociraptors, they were lookin' to feast.

This is not only the truest thing you have ever said on here, ever, but also my favorite.

I know, it was like I was channeling Confucius or George Bernard Shaw. :expressionless:

But humans are easy meals. We're relatively slow for our size. At a full Sprint our Olympic sprinters haven't even made it to 30mph. Imagine an out of shape scientist who's looking back every few seconds trying to run through thick brush in the rain. No way he's moving very fast. A domestic cat has been clocked in at 30mph methinks.. Not my cat I'm sure :)

I read that scientist believe that a T-Rex only needed to eat something the size of a human every 5 or 6 days. Kinda makes me believe that any attacks on humans are provoked. Maybe the lights in car, the radio or anything really.

Here's the thing...

T Rex in movies is not about T Rex.

It's about you and me sitting in the audience and imaging that it's us getting eaten by T Rex.

It hardly matters that we are a little snack. What matters is that he could swallow us whole. Jaws has nothing on him in our imaginations.

t-rex for president!!!!!

Have you ever eaten Nerds? Delicious little candies. Think of us as nerds for dinosaurs.

(yes, the double meaning was intentional)

rowr!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...z/IMG_1731.jpg