Why does the T-Rex have such small arms?

Nature usually has an evolutionary cause for all characteristics of an animal. If this is true, then why Tyrannosaurus Rex? Were their weapons ridiculously small? UC Berkeley paleontologist Kevin Badian has a new theory.

Badian is a professor of integrated biology at Berkeley, and one of the questions he hears so many of his students is exactly why the T-Rex has such small arms. Prefer that there is no definitive answer to this question. Just a hypothesis. In 2017, University of Hawaii paleontologist Stephen Stanley published a book study Where the theory is assumed that dinosaur They used their tiny arms to inflict serious wounds on their prey when they had them at close range Just as cats violently scratch their hind legs when they cling to their prey (or the arm of an unlucky human).

Stanley’s theory is supported by details such as the fact that the arms of the T-Rex, although small, have some strong muscles that allow them to move quickly. Not to mention, the little arms were finished off with sharp claws. Both traits (losing one paw to increase the pressure of the other two traits On Prey and the Muscular System) dismisses the idea that the T-Rex’s arms were just an antique accessory doomed to perpetual neglect.

However, Stanley’s theory does not explain why the arms are short. If the T-Rex really used them to attack, they would have benefited from the height increase. This is where Kevin Badian’s hypothesis comes in. This biologist theory was recently proposed in Polish Palaentological Law It’s that the T-Rex has developed their arms and gotten shorter and shorter…so he won’t accidentally take them off.

There is mounting evidence that T-Rex were not solitary animals as we think, but rather lived together in small groups, at least for some things. These huge, carnivorous dinosaurs may have gathered around fallen prey to feed on it, much as wolves or eagles do today. In this context, having short weapons was an advantage.

“Imagine several Tyrannosaurus Rex It pounces on the same prey,” says Badian. “You have several huge heads with incredibly powerful jaws and teeth trying to gain a foothold, biting, tearing flesh, biting bones in a feeding frenzy. What happens if you get too close to where one of your friends is eating? Well, it might warn you that you are invading his vital space in a very quick way: cutting off your arm.

Badian explains that this type of accidental cannibalism is not uncommon among reptiles. Crocodiles and crocodiles have sometimes been observed accidentally amputating the limbs of others of the same species during a feeding frenzy. In this scenario, having short front ends would help the T-Rex avoid damage during feeding. The problem is that it doesn’t explain how it became so small in the first place.

When the extinct species was discovered in 1900, its discoverer shrugged off the arms of the T-Rex, unable to believe that it belonged to such a large animal. Keep in mind, if we as humans had small arms like a T-Rex for our size, we would have arms…13cm.[via[vía[عبر[víaIFL Science]