|
Forgive me if this sounds too stupid of a question but I've recently gotten into a serious argument with my friend over my favorite animal...
I've always liked wolves. No question about it, they are my favorite animal. But my friend, who's a huge dinosaur lover, keeps saying that any decent dino could kill an infinite number of wolves. I then said without thinking first that I thought 50 wolves would easily be able to take down a Tyrannosaurus rex. He promptly laughed at my claim and dismissed it as balony. Being the wolf enthusiast I am, I promptly started looking on the internet to proove him wrong. Since I have no scientific background, I didn't have much luck. Although I found reports of starving wolves killing brown bears in the winter for food in Siberia, even I have to admit that taking down a brown bear is one thing and taking down a T-rex is quite another. So could anyone with some scientific knowledge settle our debate as to how many wolves it would take to kill a T-rex?
 
|
infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
it'll take just about the entire lifespan of a t-rex since it can't reproduce by itself
|
Umm, really really hard to know for sure because we don't even know how capable a T-Rex was in combat, it might even have simply been a scavenger.
Either way it would take quite a number, 50 might be adequate though.
|
Katowice25012 Posts
I like whales and say they could kill a dinosaur AND a wolf at the same time
|
United States4796 Posts
I'd say about 20 to 30.
A T-rex, despite its huge mass, has a very small brain. The brain of a T-rex cannot be bigger than that of a wolf. Therefore, it will have a hard time coping with wolves.
Second of all, wolves are good team players. They will surround the T-rex and attack it from all sides. Some may even scale up toward the back and attack there. A T-rex will have difficulty handling this.
While a T-rex can easily take down a single wolf in enough time, the damage inflicted by the individual wolves will eventually cause the T-rex to succumb to its injuries.
However that brings up a point against the wolves. The amount of damage the wolves can inflict against a T-rex is very small, if you look at each individual wolf and its biting capacity and clawing capacity.
In the end, however, I still believe the wolves have the advantage. With faster reflexes and a more agile build, it is capable of quick movement and reaction. The T-rex, as an attacker, is slow to react, and has an awful targeting system, so to speak. It relies on the enormous mass of its prey to be able to hit it. Hence, smaller prey are at an advantage because of the difficulty of aiming and scoring a hit.
Does this make sense? Hope I've been helpful to your cause. 
|
On September 14 2009 02:47 heyoka wrote:
I like whales and say they could kill a dinosaur AND a wolf at the same time
If in water, then definitely
|
Judging purely from the movie Jurassic Park, I would have to say that T-Rex > wolves
|
I don't think that wolves can jump too high and wouldn't be able to reach anything more than the T-Rex legs and inflict minimal damage in a non vital area.
Besides, i think a T-Rex should be able to kill or disable a wolf in just one bite (15 seconds, maybe?) so i don't think any reasonable amount of wolves could kill a T-Rex.
|
What mechanism would you use to ensure that the wolves actually attack the thing? Their first reaction would probably be to bolt and run.
|
On September 14 2009 02:55 Draconizard wrote:
What mechanism would you use to ensure that the wolves actually attack the thing? Their first reaction would probably be to bolt and run.
Hunger.
|
Would the T-Rex have time to prepare?
|
I'm sure that wolves would never attack such a huge animal.
But let's assume they did. Wolves are superior in numbers, speed, stamina and intelligence. I guess even 15 wolves could do it if they use their advantages wisely. Surround, bite the dinosaur somewhere, retreat, let it chase after one wolf while 5 others harass him from behind. Repeat until the T-rex breaks down from exhaustion and lots of small injuries. Or jumps off a cliff because it is so stupid
|
Lions team up to take down hippopotamuses, which, although they individually could take out two or three lions, are incapable of fighting off 5 or 10. A few lions in front distract them, while another two or three jump on the hippopotamus back and bite/claw its skin. They can easily disable it within a few minutes this way, as the hippopotamus is incapable of reaching its back. I imagine it would be the same way with the T-Rex, considering its pretty obvious that physically a T-Rex wouldn't be able to reach its own back.
|
You seriously think wolves can take that?
|
Wolves have strong jaws and sharp teeth, but how sure are we that they are able to pierce a T-Rex's skin? I think the guy who said 15 wolves is way off... if 15 wolves could take down a T-Rex then wouldn't small packs of velociraptors be killing T-Rex's all the time?
|
Would the T-rex be susceptible to fatigue? If so, then obviously a T-rex could not take on an "infinite" amount of wolves. But the more realistic view is that I wonder is how the jaw power and teeth would work against a reptilian skin, especially where there are no parts (beside the tip of the tail, which I would assume could whip around really fast) where the wolf could actually fully bite down on and be able to use the full potential of its jaw. First of all, a wolf could take down a brown bear because the bear has a softer skin and its legs are smaller and easy to bite down on with the full force of the jaw.
Just a thought.
|
This blog screamed quality from the moment I saw it
|
We don't even know if a wolf could pierce the skin of a Tyrannosaurus, and the is literally no way they can jump up 5 or 6 meter to reach for the neck. It sounds unlikely that any number of wolves could take down a T-rex, as much as I like wolves and stupid childish scenarios like this one
|
On September 14 2009 03:03 Chuiu wrote:You seriously think wolves can take that?
Best post of the year.
|
5-10 at max.
maybe even 3.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm5/Zamkaizer/CalvinHobbes-TinyT-Rex.jpg)
