# Tyrannosaur vs. 4 men with spears -- who wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 17, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458 "2012-07-17T00:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/1 "2012-07-17T00:05:03Z")
On one side , we have a T-Rex. > **[Tyrannosaurus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus)** > > See text > Tyrannosaurus\[nb 1\] is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning "king" in Latin), often called T. rex or colloquially T-Rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the Upper Cretaceou... On the other, four large, reasonably athletic men with long, sturdy spears. Let’s say the spear shafts are about 8-9 feet long. The men have nice sharp 3-foot swords as backup weapons. Who wins this one? Do the guys have any chance at all against the fearsome beastie? (I’m assuming no preparation time on the part of the men, or the dinosaur. They haven’t had time to think up some strategy or to set up traps. The setting is a rebuilt Roman Colosseum.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/2 "2012-07-17T00:07:36Z")
The spears serve as toothpicks. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/3 "2012-07-17T00:45:28Z")
Most of these thought-exercises are a bit better balanced… My favorite was a T-Rex vs. a guy in a Chevy Camaro. It all falls to one throw of the dice: if the guy can break the Rex’s legs in a daring high-speed smash, he wins. Otherwise, he hides behind the front seats and starves to death. T-Rex vs. a dozen Deinonychus? Historically, what was the likely outcome in a Bull vs. Bear fight, anyway? And how many rats can a rat terrier tear if a rat terrier can tear rats? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/4 "2012-07-17T00:55:28Z")
I think it would depend on if the men were just trying to defend themselves or if they were acutally hunting the T rex with intent to kill it. The best strategy for the men would be to quickly kill a large docile feed animal for the T rex to eat, and while he’s eating it, sneak away. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/5 "2012-07-17T01:04:16Z")
The men are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/6 "2012-07-17T01:08:52Z")
I think the key would be this bit of information from the Wiki link: > [@](#): > > Tyrannosaurus may have been slow to turn, possibly taking one to two seconds to turn only 45° — an amount that humans, being vertically oriented and tailless, can spin in a fraction of a second.[79] The cause of the difficulty is rotational inertia, since much of Tyrannosaurus’ mass was some distance from its center of gravity, like a human carrying a heavy timber — although it might have reduced the average distance by arching its back and tail and pulling its head and forelimbs close to its body, rather like the way ice skaters pull their arms closer in order to spin faster.[80] The humans would be far more agile than the T-rex. Even though the dino might have been much faster in straight pursuit (and its running speed - or even if it could run at all - is highly debatable), the humans could probably evade it pretty easily. The main problem would be that their spears wouldn’t easily be able to reach any vulnerable areas on the T-rex (not that it had many). Their best strategy would be for some guys to distract it while others poked holes in it, then wait till it bled to death. ---
**Author:** ![greenslime1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@greenslime1951](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenslime1951)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/7 "2012-07-17T01:12:55Z")
Well, gee, I just had a great idea for the 2016 Olympics. Can we clone 100 or so T-Rexes in time, though? I would expect the humans to win, but with 50% casualties. While Dino was munching on one guy, that would probably be enough distraction for the others to move in for the kill. Dino would probably swat one of the unchomped attackers into the next county, though. So the score would be: one dead human, one severely injured human, one dead T-Rex, and one hell of a barbecue back at the cave. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/8 "2012-07-17T01:39:15Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > (I’m assuming no preparation time on the part of the men, or the dinosaur. > They haven’t had time to think up some strategy or to set up traps. The > setting is a rebuilt Roman Colosseum.) The thought of a T-Rex sitting around coming up with different strategies makes me smile. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/9 "2012-07-17T04:53:42Z")
4 vs 1, isn’t that unfair? How about we take this to the next level and make the big guy look like [this?](http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/195/5/4/xenomorph_rex_by_nebezial-d578eds.jpg) Now you can give the men assault rifles or whatever, makes a lot better show. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/10 "2012-07-17T05:14:34Z")
The guys clearly win. By the time you can come up with 4 men with spears, every available T-Rex has been a corpse for 60+ million years. A pair of chihuahuas could beat that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/11 "2012-07-17T05:25:52Z")
T Rex isn’t interested in appetizers. He jumps the wall and stomps on spectators or hits them with his tail. The floor collapses under his weight. Basically trapped within the stone work his thrashing eventually collapses enough of it on to disable him. Guys with spears go in to finish him. After T-rex crushes the first guy in his jaws, the rest turn tail and run out of the coliseum. Those three win. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/12 "2012-07-17T09:50:56Z")
It all depends on whether Mr. Rex is CGI or stop-action animation. If the former, no way are the cavemen gonna win. Big T. will pick them up with his teeth one by one and flip them into his mouth for a quick snack. If the latter, no sweat! Like in Kung-Fu movies, the trick is just dancing around the beast until an opening presents itself and you can spear the sucker. Then the problem becomes: Which caveman is gonna bang Raquel Welch first, or do they fight over her too? ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/13 "2012-07-17T10:31:09Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > The best strategy for the men would be to quickly kill a large docile feed animal for the T rex to eat, and while he’s eating it, sneak away. Or kill the slower(fattest) of the men, and try a sneak attack when the T-Rex is snacking on the fallen hunter ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/14 "2012-07-17T12:10:58Z")
Just because a predator is large and has sharp teeth doesn’t mean he’s invulnerable. I saw a nature documentary once in which a seal on a beach was in a standoff with a penguin; yes, the seal was much larger and had sharp teeth, but if he screwed up, the penguin could permanently blind him in one eye with its beak. That would make for a costly meal. Spears 8-9’ long? The men will defeat the T-rex. T-rex’s forearms are useless; his only weapons are his teeth, and he’s not going to risk injury by snapping at you without knowing what you’re all about. He’ll get his face close to you, and you can jab him at that point to put him on the defensive, or simply distract him while your cohorts slash his sides and rear legs ([they can reach him easily with their spears](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Largesttheropods.png)). T-rex will either retreat or die. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/15 "2012-07-17T12:25:40Z")
In the movie **Planet of Dinosaurs** it was clearly the T. Rex in the battle of fangs vs. spears the first time, although the people rallied and got him at the end. They had to use things besides spears to take him down, though. Interesting film. GREAT stop-motion effects, including work by noted dinosaur artrists. AWEFUL acting, though. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpEQOkVMb_0) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/16 "2012-07-17T13:15:37Z")
Are the spears even going to get beyond T-Rex’s[thick feathers](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OORyagu8ETY/TN9ClrXSrEI/AAAAAAAAC08/7fqvxRFYmcM/s1600/teeewrecks_revorution%2521.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/17 "2012-07-17T13:23:14Z")
Maybe an email to the Creation Museum might solve this issue, they probably have a diorama of this exact scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/18 "2012-07-17T13:30:14Z")
In an arena, my money is totally on the T. Rex. Out in the wild, where the people can formulate a strategy and choose the time and place of their attack, my money would be on the men, no question. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/19 "2012-07-17T13:44:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think the key would be this bit of information from the Wiki link: > > > [@](#): > > > > Tyrannosaurus may have been slow to turn, possibly taking one to two seconds to turn only 45° — an amount that humans, being vertically oriented and tailless, can spin in a fraction of a second.[79] The cause of the difficulty is rotational inertia, since much of Tyrannosaurus’ mass was some distance from its center of gravity, like a human carrying a heavy timber — although it might have reduced the average distance by arching its back and tail and pulling its head and forelimbs close to its body, rather like the way ice skaters pull their arms closer in order to spin faster.[80] Yeah, the spearmen would totally kill the T-Rex in a competitive dance-off. Think of the moves they could pull with spears as props. Spins! Twirls! Leaps! While the best poor T-Rex could manage would be a sad _Hokey Cokey_ shuffle. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458/20 "2012-07-17T14:23:57Z")
Humans and Dinos together? The Jesus Camps win! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-4-men-with-spears-who-wins/628458.md?page=2)