Tyrant Lizard King

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South American Giant

So you may be asking, who in the world would win a realistic fight between the 2, a Tyrannosaurus Rex? or a Giganotosaurus? Well through multiple well-done studies, I think I may have the answer.

Adaptions

It's very well known that Tyrannosaurus Rex and Giganotosaurus hunted different prey, so would comparing their adaptions be mute?

To that answer, I say no. Just because 2 animals have completely different adaptions does not mean both animals cannot be compared on the basic needs for decent mega theropod combat, the same way regardless of what prey cats hunt, their size is always a deciding factor between interspecies combat

- Size

- Strength

- Speed

- Agility

- Intelligence

These 5 basic needs for a theropod to be "top dog" are what lead to both of these theropods becoming apexes of their respected time.

To start off with Size, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Giganotosaurus would on average would be equal on size, with Giganotosaurus being slightly longer (Not as if length actually provides an advantage though). We will disclose the use of larger individuals such as the Dentary specimen and Sue/Scotty. The average size we will be using for these animals is 8 tons, and both are fully grown/experienced in theropod interspecies combat.

Will note that there are a few Misconceptions we must go over before we begin

- Will Tyrannosaurus instantly kill Giganotosaurus if it lands a hit on the neck?

Possibly, but the bite would need to be well placed in order to actually kill Giganotosaurus, any bite that is not properly thrown by the Tyrannosaurus Rex could possibly be fatal but won't be enough to put the rival theropod down.

- Isn't Giganotosaurus much faster than Tyrannosaurus? Won't it be able to dodge the bites?

No not quite, if both theropods are head-to-head both competitors will be unable to dodge any oncoming onslaught by either theropod. Regardless of how good Tyrannosaurus agility is, it will not be able to dodge an incoming bite from Giganotosaurus if both are face to face, this also applies for Giganotosaurus as well.

- Didn't Giganotosaurus hunt prey much larger than Tyrannosaurus? Shouldn't this be easy?

My largest grip with people who say this forget that tactics applied of vulnerable sauropods will not be able to be applied on a similar sized theropod.

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Big Sauropods go brrrrr

While yes I will admit these Sauropods are large, they have major weak spot that can be easily picked out by any large theropod with the ability to hunt sauropods in general, which wouldn't be able to exploit on an animal such as Rex.

- No protection for the neck

- Much slower

- Able to be attacked from the behind

- Relies on Size for predatory deterrent, no actual weaponry to defend itself (You could argue the use of their legs, but a 7t Sauropod is pretty much lunch for an 8t Giganotosaurus)

Unfortunately for Giganotosaurus, Tyrannosaurus is none of those things.

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Tyrant Lizard King

- Slightly Slower than Giganotosaurus (Has a massive endurance)

- Possibly as intelligent, if not slightly more

- High Senses

- Adaptions for theropod deterrent (Massive Size, Wide frame, Overall Muscular animal)

- Built for combat amongst other theropods (Would have been just Rex, but then again Giganotosaurus only had a mid-size predator in its environment, it would have had as much experience of theropod combat as Rex would, its own kind)

- Robust Neck Muscles

So, as you can see here, this will be no easy walk in the park, now let's move on.

Strength

It's a possible toss up for which theropod is physically stronger than the other, given how both of are similar size and weight, but given how compacted the skull of a Tyrannosaurus was and how wide its frame had been, and just how robust their legs had been, it may have been slightly physically stronger, at best 1.25x, or 1.75x then the average Giganotosaurus, so honestly not much, but will indeed provide a factor.

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Largest Mega theropods to walk the Earth.

Now Giganotosaurus may have been "slim" compared to Tyrannosaurus, but in truth it would have been relatively close to overall bulk if we are using 8t individuals, of course Rex would still be the much bulkier animal, but Giganotosaurus wasn't skinny either.

( Note that we are using the some of the largest individuals in this image, not the average, but I am sure you may get a relative idea for specimen size)

But in truth, Giganotosaurus had very powerful neck muscles it would use to tug at Sauropod flesh, similar to that of modern-day dogs. (Giganotosaurus actually had much in common to the African dog then what is thought, both had strong powerful neck muscles with teeth serration used to rip the flesh of animals much larger then them. And possible pack coordination, though Giganotosaurus probably mobbed given how we don't have a study on Allosauroid intelligence.)

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Giga neck model

While not being as robust of that of Tyrannosaurus, this would have added at tugging and helping the jaws rip flesh off, combine that with teeth used to tear through flesh easily, and we get a very nasty combination.

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Rex Neck

Now, Tyrannosaurus Rex has a neck more compacted, its skull had been shorter and generally blunter, it didn't have teeth with serration on par with that of Giganotosaurus, but instead had larger teeth used for breaking bones.

Cons of Giganotosaurus Neck.

- Very long, not as compacted as that of Rex

Pros of Giganotosaurus Neck

- Aided in tugging flesh of bone

- Much more mobile than Tyrannosaurus neck.

Cons of Tyrannosaurus Neck

- Not as mobile as that of Giganotosaurus

Pros of Tyrannosaurus Neck

- Very robust neck compared to that of Giganotosaurus

- Housed Neck Muscles stronger than that of Giganotosaurus

All in all, Its around equal, but in all honesty If I were to choose which neck would actually even have the slightest advantage?

Drum rolls please.....

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Rex Muscles

It would be Tyrannosaurus Rex, assuming both theropods don't instantly try and kill each other by going at each other's throats, the neck of Rex would be great in holding up its large, compacted skull in order to defend itself, and certainly would be strong enough to at bare minimum block off incoming attacks (Note that while these attacks might not be fatal, Tyrannosaurus will still be greatly damaged).

Now going on to speed, it's very clear its Giganotosaurus which is the faster animal, no discussion needed.

Alright Alright, it had longer legs that could be used for endurance running, so all in all even if it couldn't run as far as a Tyrannosaurus could, it could certainly run faster.

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Very Long Giganotosaurus legs.

Now was this to say Rex was much slower? No, Rex will still a fast animal for its size, its just that Giganotosaurus would have been able to run faster, and its somewhat slim build would be great for reduced drag (Compared to Rex's large barrel body)

(Note Giganotosaurus is only slightly faster, given how both are 8t, so none of either's weight will be the issue, just simply the corporal build, which Giganotosaurus succeeds at)

Now going on to agility, I will leave the study here

T. Rex Turned Like a Ballerina from a Slow-Motion Nightmare | Live Science

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Large Rex

(Note that Tyrannosaurus agility had been much more prevalent in other Tyrannosaurids, given how Tyrannosaurus was much larger than the other smaller Tyrannosaurids it would have been less agile, but generally speaking, it would be a bit more agile than Giganotosaurus when it comes to turning, same way how Giganotosaurus is slightly faster than Tyrannosaurus.)

Intelligence is probably a moot point given how finding the intelligence of extinct theropods is basically impossible, so just remove it from the list.

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So to finally answer your question, who would win in a non-lethal confrontation?

Rex, and probably by 60-68% of the time on average if the situation is territorial (maybe just stealing kills) and both are equally sized individuals with no intention to kill the other or get themselves killed. Which is probably what the answer has been all these many years.

How would it win?

- Intimidation

- Head Bites

- Giganotosaurus simply not wanting to fight

- Very Aggressive Territorial Rex.

The whole "whoever gets the 1st bite in" is mute, since it relies on the idea that

- Both theropods are willing to kill each other

- Both theropods are willing to trade bites

- Both theropods disregard their safety as a whole and will simply throw away their lives just in order to kill the other.

- Both theropods are extremely aggressive (No large carnivores animal fight another without the intention to live and find the best situation out of there.)

Basically, if you think this fight is a coin flip, then you clearly watch way too much Nature Documentaries that don't deal with actual nature, because if you think either animal is just going to risk dying with 1 bite, is absolutely insane.

Even when seen with Tigers, Bears, Lions one animal just doesn't want to fight, the other kills the other via ambush (Tiger killing Bears via predation) Or in very, very rare cases after A LONG fight, 1 of the animals would win (Tiger vs Lion) which isn't very common, and simply due to human involvement.

Most fights are quick and clean, with the other just backing off (Reason why no predator on earth would actually mess with a grizzly head on)

There has never been a single case of 2 animals just deciding, hey let's rip each other's throats out and disregard our safety, because we aren't animals, we don't care about life, no let's just do the most unrealistic scenario ever seen in large predator combat.

There has been a case where a Tyrannosaurus specimen named "Stan" had its neck crushed by what is thought to be that of a larger Tyrannosaurus, but this could be due to Stan just being unlucky and getting itself bit on a place where most Tyrannosaurus specimens don't normally have injuries on, the neck.

Both Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus wouldn't be thinking "let's kill each other" they would be thinking how to win the confrontation in a way where they don't have to be injured and they don't have to risk killing the other.

But yeah it would be 50/50 if you wanted them to just kill each other.

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Both Goats

But if you truly wanted an answer on who would win, then you pretty much have it