Surely we have all considered what would be involved in hunting for, say, a T. Rex, assuming that either a bunch of T. Rexes have been brought into the modern world by genetic wizardry or that time travel has brought us back to a time when they were plentiful. We all think about this, right?!?! [cue sound of a pin dropping]
Ok, well I think about it. And what occurred to me today was that in the face of a full charge, it probably doesn't matter what gun and cartridge combination that you use or how good your shot placement is. I don't think that it would be possible to drop a charging T. Rex instantly no matter where you put that bullet.
I've hunted all sorts of reptiles, though none of them posed much threat to me. Iguanas, various snakes and turtles. All of them shared a common feature: death was a relative term.
Ten minutes into butchering a brain-shot green iguana, it has lashed out and starting thrashing on me. I've watched the disembodied heart of a snake beat for over half an hour while the rest of its body was soaking in barbeque sauce over a smoky fire. Every single snapping turtle I have ever eaten has kept clawing and running long after I took its head off. Their nervous systems work in reverse of what we usually expect -- the basic movement of running or swimming forward is a localized function that happens on its own. The brain acts as a dampener of that function rather than in direction of it. Cut off the head and the body keeps going.
These are all species that have common ancestors with dinosaurs and all of them have this disturbing tendency to keep pushing forward after what we would like to think of as death. I think it is reasonable to suggest that this ancient common ancestor of the squamates, testudines and dinosaurs probably had the same habit.
Let us look at the other end of the thing as well. We've all heard the expression, 'running around like a chicken with its head cut off.' I can vouch for this. In addition to domestic chickens, I've personally shot a number of wild turkeys in the head, swiftly cut the head off, and watched those broad wings beat at the air for a good five minutes before I could stuff the beast into my pack. Birds aren't as tough as reptiles in this respect but they still stretch the definition of 'dead' in a way that mammals don't generally equal.
Most taxonomists now agree that birds are probably the descendants of dinosaurs. So the way that I see it, the thing is nicely bookended. We see this ability to keep going after what should amount to clinical death both basally and in the descendants of dinosaurs.
Let us ponder what this would mean in terms of shot placement on a charging T Rex.
I think you'd be pretty much doomed. In a full, close charge, I don't think that there is any part of a T. Rex's anatomy that you could put a hole through that would anatomically prevent it from moving forward. Even a shot to the brain or the spinal cord wouldn't necessarily stop it. Like the modern snapping turtle, it might very well continue straight on the course that it was set on before being relieved of its central nervous system. If you are in that path then you are probably toast.
A shot to the heart or lungs would be even more useless. Reptiles seem to keep on truckin' for a long time after a shot to the cardiopulmonary system. Sure, the dinosaur will die. Fifteen minutes later. By that time you'd long since be exploring the digestive system. From the inside.
Behaviorally, maybe there is something that you could hit to turn a charge. Who knows? Maybe a shot to the femur would make it turn and bolt. No telling, though. I'm just saying that as a matter of pure anatomy, I don't think that there is anything that a modern hunter with any modern firearm could do to a big dinosaur in a hurry that would stop it in its tracks.
Man, I hope that someone gets something useful out of a piece of fossilized amber before I'm too old to care.
Hopefully this will be one of those posts that gets way more interesting in the comments section than I can possibly make it on my own.
[Photo copyright 2012 by Jackson Landers]
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