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[–] 206 points 6 days ago* (9 children)

I would wait and hide, allowing the T-Rex to tire itself out. Then one night, when the T-Rex was especially tired and soundly asleep, I would carefully climb into the T-Rex’s cloaca. There I would stay for the rest of the month.

That’s it, you can keep the 500 million. I’ve already won.

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  • [–] 14 points 6 days ago* (2 children)

    Literally why humans (and our ancestors) were able to put themselves at the top of the food chain.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting

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  • [–] 9 points 6 days ago* (4 children)

    Clown in ambulance style? How big is a T’s asshole for a grown ass man to fit in??

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    I’m so flattered that you you see me as a grown ass man <3

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  • [–] 66 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    no mention of the T Rex being provided food, so

    I wait in my tent until it is practically dead of hunger or thirst, then I stab it

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  • [–] 126 points 6 days ago (9 children)

    Research suggests a T-Rex would need 50-100k kCal/day. Even if it ate a whole cow before starting, it would be hurting a week in.

    Maybe it could survive the month, but would probably be severely malnourished at that point.

    In any event, there is no mention of what happens if I fail to kill it. Does the experiment just end and I go home empty handed, or does the magic hut disappear and we fight it out to the death?

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  • [–] 72 points 6 days ago (5 children)
  • [–] 9 points 6 days ago

    Seems like a reasonable assumption is that it gets 90-95% of its BMR per day; that is, its fed enough to stay alive for a long while, but it us on a duet and chronically hungry.

    If you fail to kill it and survive, yeah seems like going home empty handed is the safe assumption.

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  • [–] 104 points 6 days ago (24 children)

    I implore anyone thinking of trying this to consider that the Tyrannosaurus rex measured up to 43 feet long, stood about 12 to 13 feet tall at the hip, and weighed roughly 4 to 9 metric tons. Its skull alone could weigh up to 600 pounds, and it had a bite force estimated at 35,000 to 57,000 newtons.

    You would be better off with a TSA-approved blade against a Bengal tiger. There is no amount of strategic planning that can compensate for your being so incredibly outclassed that you’d have a better chance at building the first antigravity spaceship in your invincible hut within that same month.

    Anyway, I would still probably try, for $500M.

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  • [–] 48 points 6 days ago (16 children)

    You would never take it in a straight fight, but there's a very good reason why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence. The original post is too light on details, but in basically every scenario there almost certainly is some possible way to win that could be figured out.

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  • [–] 42 points 6 days ago* (3 children)

    Punji sticks. Me use poop and sharpness. Give big lizard tiny microbe. Big infection. Me eat meat and watch it slowly die painful horrible death weak from no food or water.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    That's a lot of digging to do while a T-Rex is prowling around.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence.

    We like to think that about ourselves, but in my opinion, that’s not the whole truth. After all, there are other intelligent life forms as well (though it’s certainly debatable whether they’re just as intelligent, “differently” intelligent, or simply less intelligent). The key reason why we, in combination with our intelligence, dominate the planet is, in my opinion, cooperation within social groups beyond the (extended) family. Religions, states, laws… all mental constructs we use to ensure that we can cooperate within massive groups. As far as I know, no one else does this.

    In our scenario here, this crucial component is missing: While a human is (quite likely) more intelligent than the T-Rex, he is, after all, just one individual, and his true strength lies in the community. If we were to place 50 people together in this setting, I believe there would be significantly less doubt about the outcome.

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  • [–] 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    the Tyrannosaurus rex measured up to 43 feet long, stood about 12 to 13 feet tall at the hip, and weighed roughly 4 to 9 metric tons. Its skull alone could weigh up to 600 pounds, and it had a bite force estimated at 35,000 to 57,000 newtons.

    BUT!

    our intelligence

    I could take it in a fight.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago

    Convo about what animals we could fight in a 1 v 1 fight came up, and a buddy chimed in with some solid piece of wisdom on the matter:

    "If you think you're gonna lose, then you're gonna lose. Thinking you can win doesn't guarantee a win, but its impossible to win if you don't think you can."

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago

    I said a straight fight. Meaning just body fighting against body plus a short knife. There's tons of other ways to kill an animal. Poison collected from plants or other animals, starvation, dehydration, traps, pits, fashioning arrows, spears, causing infections, and on and on

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    Also our ability to run long distances. I have no idea on the speed of a T-Rex, but it may be possible to have it chase you long enough to wear it out.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Due to the mass of T Rex (4-6 tons) it would theoretically top out at 10-15mph, the same run speed of a trained marathon runner putting some effort in. An athlete could outrun a T Rex briefly, and the exertion would probably dissuade it from chasing for long.

    T Rex predated upon slow, large herbivores. I think a hit & run tactic would eventually wear it down.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    there's a very good reason why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence

    Gonna have to slight disagree on this one. I've always found out ability to organize and communicate in generalist situations to be far more valuable than individual intelligence (though that's also nothing to shrug at compared to other animals).

    Naw, part of me is wondering if you'd be more likely to succeed in a 1-on-1 with the knife or a 3-on-1 unarmed. I still can't think of a good strategy, but I feel like wed stand a better chance that just any one of us out there.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    You mean sacrifice 2 so one can escape right?

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Lol, not the intention.

    I'm thinking of trying to start some kind of rope making operation in the hut (VERY wild card assumption that the resources for this would be available). If you and your two buddies could make enough rope to hog tie the Rex, then successfully did the thing while it slept, maybe you could also build some level of choker for it to suffocate the beast?

    Idk, but I know that'd be a lot of rope. Gotta get multiple people on the task.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

    Humans hunted wooly mammoths to extinction, and we'd do the same to T Rexes. 7 tons of mass is all well and good until a monkey who spent the last evening whittling a spear chucks it into your side from dozens of meters away.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Teams of humans hunted mammoths. This is just you vs a murder chicken the size of a whale.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago

    It's actually a single murder chicken the size of a mammoth, who can't retaliate to ranged attacks once I'm in my shelter, nor run away from me. I like my odds way more than team hunting mammoth herds.

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  • [–] 43 points 6 days ago

    Whenever the trex is far from the hut, taunt it into charging me, then run to safety. Do this all day, everyday for a month. Let it exhaust itself. Consider dirtying the knife and planting it blade pointing up outside the hut door as a makeshift infectious caltrop. Either it dies of exhaustion or infection.

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  • [–] 41 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Guys I just checked t Rex extinct easy money they already ded

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  • [–] 56 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    The T rex must sleep at some point. Find a big artery close to the skin surface, sever it. Watch it bleed out to death.

    Or just stay in the hut and enjoy one month of free food and rent.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 days ago*

    Find a big artery close to the skin surface, sever it.

    Have you seen a headless chicken freaking out and running around before bleeding out and dying? Now imagine that, except the chicken is 12 m tall, weighs 8 metric tonnes, still has its head, and that head is full of teeth the size of a kitchen knife.

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  • [–] 26 points 6 days ago

    Can a t rex live a month without food? If they can, then absolutely not.

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  • [–] 26 points 6 days ago* (2 children)

    Me, having a plan:

    Then I slice it open from the inside.

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  • [–] 45 points 6 days ago (7 children)

    Keep feeding the t-rex with my unlimited supply of food. It will overeat and get lazy.

    I've seen it happen with birds. If they eat too much you can just walk over and pick them up.

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  • [–] 32 points 6 days ago (6 children)

    lol, I think within the last week here on Lemmy there was a story from someone working at an animal rescue about a hawk that got too fat to fly. It had been nomming on some local free-range chickens and someone found the too-fat-to-fly hawk and called the rescue.

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  • [–] 19 points 6 days ago* (3 children)

    Do I get to choose the food and can I use it towards the production of improvised weapons, including chemical and bio weapons? Can I stay in the hut and throw things outside the hut?

    If yes, sure.

    Alternatively: is the t-rex provided food during this time?

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  • [–] 7 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    If I can choose the food I'll eat 120 barrels of ammonium nitrate stored extremely closely together, 1 ton of tnt, percussion caps, enough wire to rig it all and a firing unit that leads into my indestructible bunker.

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  • [–] 19 points 6 days ago (4 children)

    I think some of the other suggestions are better, but my first thought was burying the knife in its food supply (assumings it's being given like entire dead cows or something) and hoping it takes a big enough bite to swallow it.

    I imagine that blade going through the digestive track has a good chance to kill it.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Honestly, if it eats entire raw bones, I don't think a little knife would do much.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 days ago

    Meh, the esophagus is certainly tough enough for that but stomach acid can do a number on bones. The story is different for metal depending on stuff I don't know much about, but I imagine a quality blade would stand a good chance. And intestines should be softer than bone. And depending on how fast they digest, you might get a few tries at least... Idk I think it's a decent plan really

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Decent plan. However, you are giving up your only weapon so you better hope it's enough.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago

    I can't imagine killing a hippopotamus with a knife. I don't care if it's sleeping well after I attempt to attack it. One result, every time.

    Now I'm imagining a far more dangerous monster, several times larger and faster. Yeah, it's just not a weapon in my mind.

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  • [–] 17 points 6 days ago*

    I will craft a rudimentary instrument using any materials available in my hut and using my very high charisma I will seduce the beast.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 days ago

    Whole bunch of dead nerds in these comments.

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  • [–] 15 points 6 days ago (4 children)

    Do not leave the hut. Eat like an animal and throw your shit from the hut at the T-Rex's face. Hopefully it will get sick and perish on it's own from explosive T-Rex diarrhea.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    It doesn't say the T-Rex has unlimited food either. Wait until day 29 when it's starving and can hardly move anymore.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Nile crocodiles eat about once a week on average and can eat twice a year and survive. I wouldn't count on a t-rex expiring from hunger in a month. Maybe from all the new germs, if it was time-traveled in, but not starvation.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago

    I think dinosaurs are more closely related to birds than present day reptiles. T-Rex in particular were warm blooded I believe.

    If more similar to a chicken than a crocodile they wouldn't go too long without food.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago

    It doesn't say the food you are given is for you either. You could be given a month's supply of food for the Trex that you can't eat. Can't be here clipping people's assumptions, this question is more of "yes and" situation

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  • [–] 40 points 5 days ago (9 children)

    This is easy.

    We're locked in the arena. I'm safe in my indestructible hut. I also get food. So all I have to do is sit there and wait for the t-rex to starve to death and/or die of dehydration.

    With literally zero expenditure of effort I'll make the $500mm in like two weeks.

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  • [–] 14 points 5 days ago* (5 children)

    A predator like that probably won't starve in a month. Its a bit hard to say, you could compare with a crocodile (larger ones can fast for 2 - 3 years) but they are cold blooded which is a huge metabolic advantage here.

    Lions can go 2 weeks without eating, and are far smaller which means there's less of them to waste away before they perish. A massive predator like a rex would having huge amounts of mass to lose before it died.

    Chances are they probably only ate every 1 to 2 weeks by default. A month is not much of a stretch for it, so you likely fail.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    I'm not sure I agree on the longevity. Trex is no crocodile that can sit there with essentially zero energy expenditure for hours/days/weeks; Trex stands upright and has to walk which requires a lot of muscle output.

    Also what about water? Are you saying it wouldn't die of dehydration either?

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago

    Why would it be wandering around if it was stuck in a relatively small space? It can sit or lie down, being bipedal doesn't mean it needs to be constantly standing or walking.

    I looked into this afterward and there's actually a study by Barrick and Showers (1999) estimating that a large tyrannosaur could consume 2 - 3 weeks' worth of food in a single meal, and that's before accounting for its existing fat reserves. Remember, a starving animal will burn through its fat reserves and eventually its muscle tissue before it dies, so at that size it's potentially got significant runway.

    There's also Kleiber's law, which says larger animals have proportionally lower energy requirements relative to their body mass. Obviously a rex would need an enormous amount of food in absolute terms, but that doesn't mean it would actually need to eat particularly frequently. Throw that all together and i highly doubt a month would be enough to starve one to death.

    Dehydration is a much better argument though, I'll give you that. I've no idea how long a rex could survive without water, and I doubt anyone can reliably estimate it. I'd imagine that would kill it long before starvation did.

    Although interestingly, the original scenario only says you're provided with food, it doesn't actually mention water for either of you.

    But if it rained, water would pool in its footprints and you'd definitely be screwed.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (2 children)
  • [–] 12 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    Poop on the knife, stab it anywhere I can reach when it is inevitably near the hut trying to get me. Repeat until infection does its work.

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  • [–] 12 points 4 days ago

    The correct answer is to befriend the t-rex and then team up to kill the multi millionaires caging up people and extinct animals for violent entertainment.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 days ago (4 children)

    When it falls sound asleep I stab it in a foot or it's neck or it's eye.

    I think I eventually do enough damage after it's hobbled so it bleeds out.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 days ago* (3 children)

    Smear your shit on the knife so it eventually dies from the infection or gets weak enough you can take it out while it's passed out.

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