A recent academic study has redefined the classic image of large extinct animals as agile and fast creatures, as it seems they were slower than previously thought.
Researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Granada demonstrated that giant dinosaurs and mammoths moved at much lower speeds than previously believed.
To reach these conclusions, the study compared their biomechanics with those of current elephants, the heaviest land animals still in existence. Thus, the scientific evidence allowed for adjustments to real parameters.
In this way, the ecology of the past is now observed from a more precise perspective, linking body size, locomotion, and territory use.
Mammoths, proboscideans, and early humans
The results indicate that the woolly mammoth reached just over 20 kilometers per hour, while even larger species barely exceeded 15. This slowness marked their relationship with the environment and their predators.
In the Orce basin, in the province of Granada, the Mammuthus meridionalis coexisted with the first humans of Western Eurasia. There, even the largest specimens, like the one found in Fuente Nueva 3, moved with relative calm. Therefore, these species relied more on their defensive size than speed to survive.
Giant dinosaurs and ancient landscapes
In the case of dinosaurs, the data is even more revealing. The Argentinosaurus hiunculensis, one of the largest known land animals, would not have exceeded 10 kilometers per hour.
In Europe, the Turiasaurus riodevensis, discovered in Teruel, would reach a slightly higher speed. These figures contrast with popular depictions of colossal animals running at high speed.
Thus, the Mesozoic ecosystems were dominated by slow giants, adapted to traverse great distances without haste.
New models to understand the past
The research included contributions from universities of Queensland and Helsinki, and focused on correcting errors in old mathematical models. These used to group animals with very different anatomies, leading to overestimations.
By relying on empirical data from living elephants, the new calculations allow for more realistic reconstructions of ecological behavior.
Thanks to this, there is now a better understanding of how these extinct species migrated, fed, and occupied their habitat.
The causes that led to extinction
The slowness of these giants was a disadvantage in the face of abrupt environmental changes. In the case of mammoths, the climatic warming at the end of the Pleistocene drastically reduced their habitats.
Additionally, human expansion added pressure through hunting and ecosystem fragmentation. The combination of both factors accelerated their disappearance.
In dinosaurs, a mass extinction linked to cosmic impacts and volcanism altered the global climate. Thus, even the best-adapted colossi could not survive on a planet that changed too quickly.
