Dinosaurs Q&A: Part One

Could a T-rex Bite a Small Car in Half?

This question might seem absurd. I mean, monsters who bite cars in half are only in movies, aren’t they? Let’s find out.

So, what is a T-rex?

Short for Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-rex is a type of theropod carnivorous dinosaur that lived 66 million years ago.

You might have heard of it. It had extremely strong jaws, because the only weapon it had for hunting prey is its mouth. Its tiny arms weren’t that much of a weapon. And you’re about to find out how unfathomably strong its jaws were.

So T-rex preyed on a type of herbivore called the Triceratops. Scientists know this because bite marks have been found on Triceratops bones. Greg Erickson, a famous paleontologist, knew exactly how to calculate the bite force of a T-rex jaw. He took a cast of a T-rex tooth, then he pushed it into a cow pelvis — which was the most similar bone to a Triceratops pelvis. Greg measured how much force would be needed to push the tooth into the cow pelvis just deep enough to match the depth of the T-rex bite mark on the Triceratops bone.

The result was over 3,000 pounds of force, or almost 1370 kilograms — and that’s just for one tooth! T-rex had over 60 teeth, so the total amount of force the T-rex jaws would be producing were over 5,000 kilograms!! Even though it would be slightly brutal, just to make your head wrap around this number, let’s imagine a T-rex attacking a Triceratops.

The Triceratops herd — horned, frilled herbivores — munching on some
vegetation calmly, while, behind some nearby trees, a Tyrannosaurus Rex waits for the right moment. Then it lunges out, roaring, and a Triceratops screeches out in alarm and tries to scare off the predator by ramming its horns at it. The T-rex does get hurt — a long gash on its legs — but it doesn’t let that scar stop it. Instantly, it bites down with all its force on the triceratops — blood splatters out and bones get crushed as the Triceratops head rolls down on the ground.

(Sorry. Were you on your way to lunch?)

So, the answer is, yes, a T-rex could bite a small car in half.

References: The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs (Steven Brusatte), DK
Dinosaurs Encyclopedia

If you have any other questions about dinosaurs, just put it in the comments below, and I will try to answer it in Medium as correctly as I can.