Could T-Rex Kill An Elephant?

#trex #prehistoricplanet

[sidneymcdavid]

Ridiculous to think a T Rex could not handle an elephant

[Tyrannosaurus_rex.]

Elephant tusks are made of Ivory and point down whereas Triceratops horns are made of bone covered in keratin, so the Elephant tusks may be brittle in combat.

[SPOCK]

probably a lone elephant but a herd of them is forming a protective wall thats not penetrable. Basically, the exact same scenario they had with triceratops.

[alghoulaj]

Easily the Tyrant. These are massive predators that hunted a very dangerous armored game. Like, Ceratopsians and Hadrosaurs were no jokes, one is easily able to skewer a Rhino, the other is heavier than a Paleoloxodont. So, yeah. I would say that Tyrants in general were specialized for dangerous game. We don't know how well armed they were, but Proboscideans were usually much less armored than their usual game. A lone one would be an easy prey. But if herds stick together, I doubt even a giant Tyrannosauroid would think it would be a good idea to get trampled or gored. They were extremely smart.

[rodrigopinto]

The African bush elephant is breakfast for a Tyrannosaurus rex.!

[Chief-Remeldian-Olympus]

A younger Rex might have a problem but a full grown veteran adult will have better luck. What the speed for an elephant vs the speed for a Rex?

[benalosious]

I am a loyal T-Rex fanboy…but I believe the elephant will win. It’s like fighting a wrestler with a lower CG and better balance.

[thatonesaiyan]

a big difference is that elephants are by far the biggest animals in their ecosystem, wheras t rex hunted many animals in its own weight class. meaning, a t rex would not be out of its element at all in hunting an animal of that size, wheras an elephant would be losing one of the tools it relies on the most in a fight. and this can also be seen with the position of the tusks. they aim down, because pretty much anything an elephant fights is going to be below the level of its head, meaning the tusks are a suboptimal weapon for dealing with t rex, given its height. it would have to try to knock the t rex over by ramming it, but that would put it in a vulnerable position, giving the t rex an opening to go for the back of its neck.

the elephant was likely smarter, but from my understanding, its also widely believed that t rex had primate level intelligence. so that might not be smarter by a big enough margin to matter. all in all, i think the only way an elephant could gain the advantage is if it were in a herd. but then, we also cant rule out the possiblity that t rex hunted in pairs or groups. in a 1 on 1 scenario though, i would say a t rex would win at least 7 times out of 10 against an african bush elephant.

[beck-tngl]

The one thing that could be in the elephant's favor could be that it is smarter than the T-Rex. Then again, the elephant doesn't usually fight with something that's equal to its size or even bigger.

[lensenstark]

As a point in favour of the African bush elephant, I’d have pointed to its maneuverability and stability. T-Rex, likely relied on their tail, as counterbalance to their massive bodies, which might’ve impaired their movement. Additionally, elephants are known for their long legs, which as well allow for faster turns. This would’ve made it very difficult for the T-Rex, to “stay away” from the elephant’s tusks. Let me know what you think of it.

[night.panther]

Something to consider is that bush elephant tusk faces downwards, so it is more effective using against smaller sized threats, like if something as big as a rhino wouldve attacked it, while triceratops had its horns facing either upwards or forwards which is quite a lot more effective facing off against giant threats such as T.rex .
Another thing to consider is T.rex wouldve faced off against giants its own size with different body plans on a daily basis including Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Alamosaurus and its own kind which means it has a lot of experience fighting massive opponents while the only hreat to elephants today are either themselves or humans .
And one other thing is sauropods would more likely use their legs to kick or stump and use their tail LIKE A CLUB not like a whip as it could cause more severe damages to the opponent while avoiding fatal injuries themselves

[dino-gen]

Whilst I don’t believe that ceratopsian frills evolved for protection, it certainly may have come in handy and I’m glad you’ve taken into account more than just weight. Great insight as always 👍

[mgabor]

Regarding your article, T-Rex vs Elephant, I can’t say it’s something I’ve ever thought about. It’s well written and I agree with your conclusion.
I’ve seen the television shows, where two someones put together theoretical battles between creatures that could never have met in life. Interesting, even fun, it’s something that would probably play well in in a tv show. Lots of graphics and CGI would carry it.

[eliletts]

It could honestly go either way.

However, I do wonder who started the recent Mesozoic vs Cenozoic animal trend?

This is far from the first video I have seen regarding the topic!

[BarockDroneBomba]

Rex dominates. Bigger and faster. It could break off the tusks if they were a problem.

[malligrub]

A 10-12 ton T-Rex would completely decapitate an elephant. A big pride of lions can take down an adult elephant

[Tar-Numendil]

The only advantage I see an elephant having is it's intelligence. Tyrannosaurus was smart for a dinosaur, but nowhere near the level of an elephant.

[KurNorock]

So here's the issues with these arguments.

1. There is zero evidence of any trex being harmed by a triceratops horn. It is only an assumption that triceratops horns were used for defense against predators. It is entirely possible that triceratops only used its horns against other triceratops, as every adult triceratops skull we have, has gouges and scratches in it from triceratops horns.

2. The frill on the triceratops skull was thicker than any other ceratopsian dinosaur. That being said, it was only an inch thick. An inch of bone is absolutely nothing for a trex to bite through.

3. Trex didn't fight prey to kill it. Trex had many adaptations for long distance travel such as huge lungs and heart, long legs, and the arctometatarsalian condition in the feet which made locomotion more efficient. Combine that with the fact that trex likely had the best vision and sense of smell of any land animal ever, it becomes pretty clear that trex was NOT an ambush or pursuit predator. It was a persistence hunter, chasing prey for very long distances until the prey animal was too exhausted to keep running or fight back.

4. Being a persistence hunter, like most canine species (and humans) the trex would have necessarily been exceptionally good at intimidation. After all, it wanted its prey to run away.

5. An African elephant that holds its ground would pose a serious challenge to the trex. It would have a very hard time getting around those tusks. However if the trex happens to grab a tusk, or worse yet, the trunk, then it could easily pull the elephant to the ground and kill it.

6. An African elephant would probably not stand its ground though. While elephants don't run from any other animals, they do run from other elephants larger than themselves. A big trex would be much larger than an African elephant, and with its ability to be extra intimidating, even the largest elephant would be likely to run, which would spell its doom as the trex would just chase it to exhaustion and then kill it at the trex's leisure.

So all in all, if the elephant stands is ground, it has an 80% chance of surviving and a 30% chance of killing the trex. If the elephant runs, it has a 5% chance of surviving and a 0.5% chance of killing the trex. So overall the matchup favors the trex.

But it's a whole different story if we use the paleoloxodon. That's an extinct elephant that was nearly twice the size of the trex and had huge tusks that were something like 13ft long and relatively straight. It could bully a trex.

[anobeya]

Theoretically, the elephant would be an easy match for the T-Rex since it would be proven in combat with the Triceratops. However, such an encounter was very risky and the T-Rex was often critically injured.
In practice, however, things look a little different. Oxygen levels today are 25% lower than back then. That might be the biggest problem for the T-Rex. I've seen tyrannosaurs completely exhausted after just two minutes of fighting.

[dkoz]

Bull elphant main defense would be an offensive charge to collide with T-Rex, bringing the reptile off its feet, the crush rex neck with weight.