Very fast, but still not supersonic

Photo: Simone Conti/Zachi Evenor The computer model of the dinosaur tail used and a diplodocid. An international research team including the Department of Biology at the University of Hamburg has used computer models and engineering methods to analyze the mobility of dinosaur tails. According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers found that these tails could move at speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour. Unlike previously assumed, however, they did not reach supersonic speeds. Diplodocids were large herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and long tails. In a previous study, it was hypothesized that a hypothetical structure at the end of a diplodocid's tail, similar to the end of a whip, could move faster than the speed of sound (340 meters per second) and produce a sonic boom. To test this hypothesis, the international research team simulated the movements of diplodocid tails using a model based on five fossil diplodocid skeletons.