Clickbait title. It's about walking speed which does not tell us about the running speed.<p>The article itself cites researchers saying: "the study authors want to incorporate their flexible tail into models of a running T. rex, van Bijlert said. Maximum running speed for a T. rex is thought to be in the range of 10 to 25 mph (16 to 40 km/h), according to Hutchinson."
You could outwalk it if does not run, because this here was about walking speed.<p>---<p>As for T. rex's next steps, the study authors want to incorporate their flexible tail into models of a running T. rex, van Bijlert said. Maximum running speed for a T. rex is thought to be in the range of 10 to 25 mph (16 to 40 km/h), according to Hutchinson. Biomechanics researchers have long proposed that T. rex's maximum running speed would be limited by the strength of its bones, because the animal was so heavy. However, a flexible tail could change that by acting as a shock damper during running, "allowing it to run faster without breaking its bones," van Bijlert said.
Maybe you could outrun a fully-grown T. rex. But what about a juvenile?<p>This is a great zoom talk by Dr. Thomas Holtz about the role played by sub-adult tyrannosaurids: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwxaEsLcU_w" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwxaEsLcU_w</a><p>Holtz looks at the hypothesis that juveniles and sub-adults filled the niches that medium-size predators occupied in ecosystems with no tyrannosaurids. If so they'd have needed to have been fast enough to catch smaller prey.