As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Why Did T-Rex Have Tiny Arms?

Tyrannosaurus rex - Deposit Photos

Tyrannosaurus rex was a vicious hunter with the strongest bite of any animal ever to walk on land. The beast prowled the late Cretaceous wilderness more than 66 million years ago, looking for a Triceratops or Edmontosaurus to munch on.

The only thing not menacing about the king of the tyrant lizards was its tiny arms. T. rex wasn’t the only dinosaur with small arms compared with the rest of its body; many of its theropod cousins — a group of bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs — shared this trait. But why did many theropods evolve such stubby arms?

Scientists have proposed a few possible explanations.

A 2021 study published in the journal Acta Paleontologica Polonica suggested that bone-crushing theropods such as T. rex evolved small arms so they wouldn’t bite each other’s arms off when they fed. Paleontological evidence suggests that these animals devoured their prey as a pack, so perhaps they evolved the little limbs to avoid accidental arm-ripping as a throng of theropods descended on a tackled Triceratops, the study author proposed.

“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.

Full Story From Live Science

Leave a Comment