When someone says “dinosaur”, the first thing that comes to mind is the Tyrannosaurus rex. It’s inevitable. Large and powerful, portrayed in popular media as an unrivaled super predator, the T. rex terrifies and attracts at the same time. However, translated to real life, there are still many things we ignore about this dinosaur that could affect its performance in a modern environment. In other words, if it were possible to release a Tyrannosaurus rex into the jungle today… what would happen?
More than six months still remain before the sequel to Jurassic World hits the big screen, but it’s evident that a large part of the public can’t wait to get their dose of dinosaurs. Jeff Goldblum’s return to the franchise is not a minor detail, and considering the spectacular performance of Jurassic World at the box office (more than $1.6 billion), I think it would be madness to compete with the Jurassic fury (though perhaps Deadpool 2 will offer resistance). That said, it’s no coincidence that the Tyrannosaurus rex holds a privileged place in the trailer of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Everything seems to indicate that once again it will be one of the main antagonists, but let’s do a small mental exercise: Imagine a corporation similar to old Hammond’s manages to clone a pair of T. rexes and releases them on a remote island. How would they fare?
What Science Says
Users of the Worldbuilding portal on Stack Exchange have explored different possibilities, and by throwing a little science at the problem, the hypothesis divides into two parts. On one hand, a Tyrannosaurus rex that is too young would be eaten. That’s right: the hunter becomes prey. The T. rex needs to live nearly twenty years to reach its recognized size, while a decade of development would make it as large as a bear. That means that during its first five years of life, the T. rex would be forced to evade dozens of potential predators, and even with a weight over 10 kilograms, it would be a very popular dish for cougars or jaguars. The T. rex would face tough competition from animals with fast metabolisms, some of which devour half their body weight per day.
And on the other hand, the Tyrannosaurus rex would starve. The dinosaur may be big, but its speed is not ideal for capturing prey (mainly herbivores) that evolved to be faster than their predators. Once it reaches half a ton in weight, the T. rex condemns itself, as it loses the ability to obtain food. There is nothing in its reach that is slow enough to overcome by size alone. In the Cretaceous period there were many animals with that characteristic, however, in the world of mammals, almost everything would escape its jaws. Now, there are two parallel possibilities to this exercise. One is that the T. rex starts attacking livestock. The other… is us.
Worldbuilding
