# Good News If You're Being Chased By a T. Rex! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511 "2006-01-05T02:51:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/1 "2006-01-05T02:51:10Z")
[Scream as loud as you want, it can’t hear you.](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18925334.600&feedId=dinosaurs_rss20) > [@](#): > > A TYRANNOSAURUS REX wouldn’t have heard your screams. Otto Gleich of the University of Regensburg, Germany, used data from birds to calculate the range of frequency of dinosaurs’ hearing. Of course, that might make humans the favorite food of T. Rex (were any around) since they could enjoy their meal in “silence.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/2 "2006-01-05T03:02:09Z")
Awful lot of assumptions in there. Interesting research, but far from conclusive. So, which Doper is gonna go back in time and scream behind a _T. Rex_’s back to see if it turns around and eats them? I’d go, but I’m…errrrr…been busy for the last 65 million years. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/3 "2006-01-05T03:34:39Z")
I’ll go. What the hell, I might find some nice specimens for my butterfly collection. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/4 "2006-01-05T03:46:00Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’ll go. > > What the hell, I might find some nice specimens for my butterfly collection. Just don’t step on any… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/5 "2006-01-05T03:47:00Z")
Heck, I’ll do it. But I’ll keep my finger on the “Get The Fuck Out of Here” button on the time machine. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/6 "2006-01-05T04:00:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’ll go. > > What the hell, I might find some nice specimens for my butterfly collection. Could you take this giant rectal thermometer with you? We may as well also solve the question of whether they are warm or cold-blooded while we’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/7 "2006-01-05T05:04:03Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Could you take this giant rectal thermometer with you? We may as well also solve the question of whether they are warm or cold-blooded while we’re at it. The screaming may or may not work, but that’ll definitely get the beast’s attention. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/8 "2006-01-05T13:02:08Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > The screaming may or may not work, but that’ll definitely get the beast’s attention. Hm, it may turn out to be the primal alien abduction story. If I’m going, I want a pith helmet, khaki shorts, and knee socks. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/9 "2006-01-05T13:14:11Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > If I’m going, I want a pith helmet, khaki shorts, and knee socks. :: Drool :: ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/10 "2006-01-05T13:35:39Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > :: Drool :: And a shirt, you perv. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/11 "2006-01-05T13:49:35Z")
Anyway, if Kent Hovind is right\*, you don’t need to scream at all; for a start, it might be a vegetarian, and even if it isn’t, you can just pull its forelimbs right off. \*Monkeys are statistically far more likely to fly out of my arse. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/12 "2006-01-05T13:55:29Z")
Okay, so don’t move as its’ vision is based on movement, but scream as loud as you want. Things to remember when I go to Central American islands. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/13 "2006-01-05T14:55:39Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’ll go. > > What the hell, I might find some nice specimens for my butterfly collection. Bradbury? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/14 "2006-01-05T21:03:05Z")
I wouldn’t take these “findings” as gospel just yet. Tyrannosaurs may have been more closely realted to birds than, say, _Brachiosaurus_, but the fact remains that tyrannosaurs _weren’t_ birds, so there is no guarantee that the scaling of hearing apparati works the same in birds as it did for tyrannosaurs. _Archaeopteryx_ is separated from _Tyrannosaurus_ by at least 65 million years, and as we all know, a lot can happen in 65 million years. _Brachiosaurus_ is even more divergent from its feathered cousins, Sauropodomorpha having diverged from the rest of the Saurischia on the order of about 80 million years before _Archaeopteryx_. Besides which, there’s quite a bit of diversity in the hearing capabilities of mammals; who’s to say there wasn’t at least some diversity among the hearing abilities of dinosaurs? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/15 "2006-01-05T21:25:26Z")
Sound to me ( I’m so punny!) like Mr. Gleich is in the T. Rex as a ‘scavenger’ camp. Scavengers presumably wouldn’t need much of a hearing range, just a good sense of smell. If however, Mr Gleich were in the ‘hunter’ camp, perhaps the ‘data’ would have indicated a wider range of hearing. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-if-youre-being-chased-by-a-t-rex/338511/16 "2006-01-06T02:54:05Z")
> [@Electronic Chaos](#): > > Just don’t step on any… Ah, an obscure reference that I actually get!