Experiment 2: How fast did

dinosaurs travel?
Instructor: Andrew MacRae
Room S406
Andrew.MacRae@smu.ca
From: Psihoyos, 1994
quadruped bipeds quadrupeds
From: Psihoyos, 1997
 Trackway measurements
foot
length
(fl)
stride
length
(sl)

See also: handout From: Martin, 2001

stride length

From: Psihoyos, 1994

 Estimating dinosaur speed
• footprints preserve motion
• longer stride == faster, but animals are
different sizes and leg geometry
• Alexander (1976) recognized a relationship
that held for all legged animals
• When stride between footprints and speed
are scaled by leg length, a linear relationship
• Therefore, given stride & leg length, can infer
speed
 Stride length: dimensionless
(sr)
speed
given relative stride length
(stride length / leg length)

can get
dimensionless From: Lucas, 2004

speed (Original data from

Alexander, 1976)

(vd)
 formulae
• sr = sl / ll
• relative stride = stride length / leg length

• vd = v / (ll * g) 0.5
• dimensionless speed = speed / square root of
(leg length * acceleration due to gravity)
How do we get leg length from
footprints?
leg : foot length

hip joint

leg length

foot length

Tyrannosaurus rex painting by Gregory S. Paul

 How to estimate leg length?
• use relationship between foot length (fl) and
leg length (ll)
• specific to each dinosaur species
• foot < 0.25m long
– small theropods: ll = fl * 4.5
• foot > 0.25m long
– large theropods: ll = fl * 5 to 5.5 (we will use 5)
– large sauropods: ll = fl * 4 to 5.9 (we will use 4)
 Testing Alexander's
model: human
footprints

run walk Refer to table

#1 for human
2.5m data
 Stride length: dimensionless
(sr)
speed

Andrew (short) tall

From: Lucas, 2004

medium

(vd)
 Part 2: dinosaur footprints
• famous example by Roland T. Bird
• theropod & sauropod tracks from Texas
• how fast were they moving?
Roland T. Bird Paluxy
trackway
 Roland T.
Bird Paluxy
River
trackway
 So, how fast?
• stride / footprint length ratio (i.e. sr)
– < 2 = walking, > 2.9 = running
• Most trackway sites indicate walking
speeds, and quite slow
• Fastest trackways: ~ 11m/s
– small theropod dinosaurs fastest
– larger dinosaurs quite slow (walking speed)
• Human: 2-3m/s walking, 10m/s running
• Horses: up to 19m/s, Ostriches: 12-14m/s