this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
701 points (99.2% liked)

Science Memes

11047 readers
3996 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 116 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 113 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 month ago

Stop that, stop that! Go on, clear off! Go on, go away! And you, clear off! Bloody weather.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Bloody weather...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

Circles in the glass of water intensify.

[–] [email protected] 81 points 1 month ago (8 children)

I'd love to see an informed response as to why we think they ran instead of hopped. Is there a difference in the skeleton or muscles that would tell us?

[–] [email protected] 134 points 1 month ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh God imagine we'd actually found huge parallel footprints.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 month ago

Then we’d know Jesus was carrying the t-rex the whole time

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Good point actually.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Kangaroos hop because they can store a lot of energy in there Achilles tendon and use that to propel them forward without using much energy. It's good for covering long distances over flat terrain while using as little energy as possible , which is good for the Australian outback as they hop between small patches of vegitation separated by miles of desert. It's not that good for ambushing or quickly chasing prey in a rainforest like the t rex is probably doing.

There's also the issue of scale, a t rex's Achilles tendon would have to be stronger then steel cable and as stretchy as rubber to store and re use that much kinetic force from its weight.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Was gonna say, the tendon strength simply doesn't scale like that, rexes are way too massive.

Could see it for larger raptors though, except they're probably better off just running. Predators really need maximum bursts of speed and maneuverability, hopping doesn't give them that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The probably pounced on their prey though when they were sure they would catch them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Probably something to do with strain on the body. Studies show T. rex couldn't even run. Maybe a fast walk. Additionally, the way the muscles attach to the bones probably don't support hopping.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The context of this comment is amazing.

Imagine a creature, that died over 65 million years ago (earth was at the other side of the galaxy back then) and yet we can detect how the muscles attached to the bone

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

earth was at the other side of the galaxy back then

Hoooly eff.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Right now you’re orbiting the galactic core (well basically, its very close) at 240km/s +/- ~30km/s (Earths rotation of the Sun).

And it still took 65 million years to complete less than half an orbit of the galaxy.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Most likely the weight difference would be the biggest issue here.

Same reason why to scale bug wings wouldn't let you fly, that square cube law can lead to some very unfun conclusions where big beasties are concerned.

Or some absolutely terrifying ones in Shin Godzilla's case.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

SQUARE CUBE LAW MENTIONED

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wonder if babies and adolescents hopped around? There's already the theory that T.rexs lived in family groups with adolescents catching lots of small prey and adults catching the occassional large prey and providing protection.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

hopping like a kangaroo is unlikely, but it would probably make sense for them to move like modern birds of the same size and whatever is the most similar ecological niche.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Skull weight alone would make hopping difficult. Their heads are huge.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

yep, the first thing I noticed was how tiny the kangaroo's head and upper body is compared to the legs. for the t-rex both the head and the upper body are much more massive compared to the leg's diameter.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Maybe they tucked their huge heads and rolled around like rollerrats. Except huge.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

first off AFAIK they don't even have anything near the amount of muscle in the right places to try hopping, but even if they did manage it i'm pretty sure their legs would snap in half when they landed and then as the rest of the body met the ground they'd crack ribs and stuff as well.

Imagine trying to jump around while wearing a dishwasher on your back, even if you're monstrously strong in every part of your body it's gonna fucking suuuuuuuuck

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hip anatomy? Structured more like a bird hip rather than a reptile or kangaroo

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was watching a Carrion Crow hop around just yesterday. Fast movement was a hop. Slow movement was a walk.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I've seen a lot of little birds hop around. Not only are birds dinosaurs, but the particular birds I've seen hopping are very similar in shape to a T Rex.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

My chickens run around very similar to the run we see of T-Rex/raptors in movies. They lean forward and low and run surprisingly fast for an animal with wings that they just tuck.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah, that seems more likely from what I know about dinosaurs. Just saying, we already have birds who hop to compare to. The kangaroo idea just strikes me as silly

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Or like a pigeon with its head motion while walking.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Have you ever seen a real roadrunner?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Seen one? I've caught one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

I heard it takes a super genius to do that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Seems unlikely. Which Acme products did you use?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

I’ve watched scrub jays running around on my lawn, eating bugs, looking exactly like little dinosaurs.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

And what if they skipped daintily while holding giant lollipops?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

"Nurse said that if I were a good lad that I should receive a lolly!"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

I think I saw that anime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

T Rex only known organism to lick its way to the center of a Tootsie pop

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

The math maths

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Imagining a TRex with enormous bunny-shaped ears

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Does the penguin fly? Mass/per/volume is a thing...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mass per volume is density, and I suspect the Trex and kangaroo are similar (~1000 kg/m^3) so yes they'd both bounce in that case. I think what you're looking for is surface area to volume, which decreases rapidly as an object gets larger while maintaining geometry.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

It's worth noting that most extinct dinosaurs were probably more similar to surviving ones (i.e., birds) than to mammals and reptiles when it comes to bones and respiratory systems, and, by extension, density.

That is to say, they probably could get that big because they were quite literally full of air.
Some of them (especially sauropods, but maybe also other big species like tyrannosaurs) probably had even more complex and efficient air sac systems than modern birds...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

+1 Terrifying

load more comments
view more: next ›