New study uncovers theory on why the T. rex had tiny arms
Researchers found reduced forelimbs were strongly linked to more robust skulls across 61 theropod species, suggesting jaws replaced arms as the main attack weapon.
- New research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences links shrinking arms in tyrannosaurs to the evolution of massive, robust skulls, led by vertebrate paleontologist Charlie Roger Scherer at University College London.
- As prey like 100-foot sauropods grew larger, dinosaurs relied less on grasping claws and more on powerful jaws, with Scherer noting that "attacking and holding on with the jaws might have been more effective."
- Examining 61 theropod species, the team developed a new scoring system for skull robustness based on bite force and bone connectivity, finding a strong correlation between shorter forelimbs and skull strength across five separate theropod families.
- Although T. Rex arms could still curl more than 100 kilograms, they became less useful over time, with Scherer describing the evolutionary trade-off as a case of "use it or lose it."
- Separate research published in PeerJ suggests T. Rex took up to 40 years to reach adult size, with Jack Horner of Chapman University noting this long growth phase allowed younger dinosaurs to fill diverse ecological roles.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Madrid. According to a new study led by researchers from UCL (University College London) and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, the evolution of tiny arms in several groups of carnivorous dinosaurs was probably driven by the development of strong and powerful heads, which were used to attack prey.
T. rex didn't evolve tiny arms because its body got bigger — it evolved tiny arms because its jaws got more powerful, according to a new study of 82 meat-eating dinosaur species that found the same pattern repeating across giant predators
The standard cultural framing of Tyrannosaurus rex’s famously tiny arms has, for over a century, treated them as one of the small jokes evolution has played on an otherwise terrifying animal. The skull is enormous. The teeth are the size of bananas. The body is the size of a city bus. The arms, by contrast, are about the size of a human adult’s, dangling from the front of an animal that weighed eight tons. The disproportion is, in some real way,…
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