Poll: T-Rex vs Allosaurus

[thejboy88]

Tyrannosaurus Rex. The King of the dinosaurs. The creature everyone thinks of when they consider prehistoric life. A massive and vicious predator that has inspired books, films and culture for nearly two centuries now. The undisputed top predator of its day. But, go back a further 90 million years or so, and you'll find that, prior to Rex's arrival in the dinosaur's world, there was another meat-eater ruling things. The Allosaurus. A carnivore roughly on par with T-Rex in terms of size and ferocity, who hunted many famous herbivore dinosaurs, like the Stegosaurus, the Diplodocus, and the towering Brachiosaurus.

These two fearsome animals never met each other in their own times, and thus, they would never have come to blows. But, if they HAD, who would be the victor? Who would come out on top as the most capable predatory dinosaur?

 

[Recusant]

Assuming averages? The T-Rex, no question. Some of the larger Allosaurs may have equaled it in size, but that was a rare thing, and a "largest of the largest" against an average. The evolutionary arms race that peaked in the Cretaceous was still ramping up in the Jurassic; the poor Allosaur wouldn't have much of a chance.

On the other hand, it's dangerous to think in terms of sheer destructive capability; a T-Rex that built a time machine (and how much of our advanced civilization do YOU think will be left 70 million years after we're gone?) would quickly find itself the victim of the Superanimal Problem; when nothing can avoid your predations, you quickly kill them all, then starve. It's all about maintaining ecological homeostasis.

 

[Queen Michael]

I remember enough from my childhood dinosaur reading that I know an Allosaurus would lose as sure as my username is Queen Michael.

 

[Casual Shinji]

T-Rex is like twice the size of the Allosaurus. Nuff said.

Maybe if it was facing two, but one on one? No freaking way.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

The asteroid.

 

[FalloutJack]

I don't recall the relative size between the two, so if the Allosaur IS smaller, I actually don't know. I recall it being somewhat nimbler, out of the two, however, I also remember something else of importance:

Teeth.

The teeth of a Tyranosaur are larger than that of the Allosaur. That means that every bite is deeper, every wound more damaging. The T-Rex is sort of a tank in the Jurassic/Cretaceous wild. If it gets you, you stay got.

 

[demoman_chaos]

On the other hand, it's dangerous to think in terms of sheer destructive capability; a T-Rex that built a time machine (and how much of our advanced civilization do YOU think will be left 70 million years after we're gone?) would quickly find itself the victim of the Superanimal Problem; when nothing can avoid your predations, you quickly kill them all, then starve. It's all about maintaining ecological homeostasis.

There are a lot of modern herbivores which the Rex couldn't catch. The gazelle is nimble enough to deal with things like the cheetah and the Rex is not exactly quick on its feet. While the only thing that might be able to put up a decent fight against it would be an elephant, there isn't much the Rex could reliably catch honestly. However I think most would fall prey to the true ultimate predator, the greatest hunter to ever exist on this planet. A Rex would be the ultimate prize for a human to bag, and very few could survive poachers without other humans stepping in to stop them.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Depends on if the Allosaurus knows Kung-fu.

 

[Tiger King]

I stole this from googley woogle:

T. Rex adults were a significantly larger compared with allosaurus adults. An allosaurus adult was between 8.5 and 12m in length (28-39 ft), while the average T. Rex adult was about 12-15m long (40-50 ft). The average height of an allosaurus was 17ft (a little over 5m) while T. Rex was about 23ft (7m) tall on average. The T. Rex was also substantially heavier at 14,000 lbs compared to the allosaurus at 4,000 lbs.

That's quite the difference in weight!
If I recall correctly from my childhood, allosaurus were believed to have hunted in groups or pairs so perhaps a tag team could bring the rex down?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

In a 1-on-1 straight up fight?

Very probably the T-Rex. It has a big size and weight advantage.

 

[Ugicywapih]

IIRC T-rex had larger cranium, meaning it was likely smarter, and the more frontal positioning of eyes suggests better depth perception, a significant advantage when calculating a lunge. Apparently, their teeth were also shaped in a rather specific way that encouraged development of flesh-eating bacteria in leftover food, that could be used as a venom substitute. On top of that, there's the size difference some folks have mentioned. I'm not sure if allosaurus has any advantages at all (while there's proof T-rexes used to hunt, the theory they scavenged a lot, possibly as their primary food source, seems popular - maybe an allosaurus would be fiercer, if it was a primary predator?), but I'm pretty sure even if it does, they wouldn't be enough.

Edit: Forgot about the forearms as a possible advantage of the allosaurus. Even so, the advantage they provide is debatable, both dinosaurs are large theropods, quite possibly descended from one another and retardation of the forearms into a vestigial form in a T-rex seems to suggest they were of little use to this kind of dinosaur.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

The two had very similar means of hunting and killing, with the reliance on large and powerful jaws to dish out the bulk of the damage, so this isn't a case of pitting big and strong against fast and nimble. It comes down to who can bite the bitiest and yeah T-Rex has got that one down pat. Sorry Allosaurus, but you're outgunned

 

[R Man]

Edit: Forgot about the forearms as a possible advantage of the allosaurus. Even so, the advantage they provide is debatable, both dinosaurs are large theropods, quite possibly descended from one another and retardation of the forearms into a vestigial form in a T-rex seems to suggest they were of little use to this kind of dinosaur.

I'd just like to correct you on this one. Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus come from different parts of the Therepod tree. Allosaurus was a carnosaur, while Tyranosaurus was a coelurosaurus. Big rexies Jurassic ancestors were actually quite small. Furthermore, T. rex's arms were small, but not vestigial. They were heavily muscled. If T. rex were alive today it would go to the gym a lot, and watch manly sports like rugby, and footy.

In truth, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus hunted different types of prey, and used very different hunting strategies. Allosaurus hunted sauropods, using its head like an axe. T. rex probably fought more mobile hadrosaurs, and maybe ceretopsians, both of which you want to kill as quickly as possible. That said, I think T. rex could have used its muscle to steal kills from Allosaurus. Though as the two species never met, we will never know. Until time travellers bring back specimens.

 

[Major_Tom]

I have a soft spot for the Allosaurus because of a documentary I watched as a kid which was about an almost complete skeleton of an Allosaurus they named Big Al and the reconstruction of his life. They also had three fingers and powerful arms compared to T.rex' retarded two-finger vestigial stumps.

 

[Ugicywapih]

Spoiler

Edit: Forgot about the forearms as a possible advantage of the allosaurus. Even so, the advantage they provide is debatable, both dinosaurs are large theropods, quite possibly descended from one another and retardation of the forearms into a vestigial form in a T-rex seems to suggest they were of little use to this kind of dinosaur.

I'd just like to correct you on this one. Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus come from different parts of the Therepod tree. Allosaurus was a carnosaur, while Tyranosaurus was a coelurosaurus. Big rexies Jurassic ancestors were actually quite small. Furthermore, T. rex's arms were small, but not vestigial. They were heavily muscled. If T. rex were alive today it would go to the gym a lot, and watch manly sports like rugby, and footy.

In truth, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus hunted different types of prey, and used very different hunting strategies. Allosaurus hunted sauropods, using its head like an axe. T. rex probably fought more mobile hadrosaurs, and maybe ceretopsians, both of which you want to kill as quickly as possible. That said, I think T. rex could have used its muscle to steal kills from Allosaurus. Though as the two species never met, we will never know. Until time travellers bring back specimens.

Well, that was educational! Thanks and sorry for the mistakes!

 

[madwarper]

What kind of contest were they having?

Everyone knows that T-Rex is the better beatboxer, but Allosaurus is the better break dancer.

 

[Zen Bard]

Oh the Allosaurus will always win. Unless...