How fast could Megalosaurus move, according to Emily Rayfield's reading of the Oxfordshire trackways?

Emily Rayfield explains that a 1997 quarry find at Ardley, between Oxford and Banbury, preserved three-toed theropod tracks probably made by Megalosaurus. Using biomechanist R. McNeill Alexander's method relating stride length and hip height to speed, one trackway shows the animal walking at about 4 miles an hour with toes turned in, then bringing its legs under its body and speeding up to about 18 miles an hour.

• The same bedding plane carries large round sauropod prints, probably made by Cetiosaurus.
• Rayfield says the tracks show how the animal moved as well as how fast.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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