Did T. rex use its tiny arms to slash prey ?

[UM-Bot]

One palaeontologist has suggested that Tyrannosaurus rex may have used its arms as vicious weapons.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/313100/did-t-rex-use-its-tiny-arms-to-slash-prey

[jarjarbinks]

What if the arms are not like we thought they are. maybe they were made of small tissue like wings and we only found the bones parts (hands).

[taniwha]

8 hours ago, jarjarbinks said:

What if the arms are not like we thought they are. maybe they were made of small tissue like wings and we only found the bones parts (hands).

Yes... perhaps they could fly. 

[paperdyer]

The arms seem short for a T-Rex to be able to grab something before it could gulp it down or bite.  Maybe if it was fighting a large foe the T-Rex would bite and hold on then attack with the arms.

 

I like the small wings theory, too.

[Bendy Demon]

Maybe, like many other dinosaur skeletons in the past, we got the whole the Tyrannosaurus skeleton wrongly assembled. After all it has happened before and will happen again.

Perhaps when a large enough skeleton was found, paleontologists mismatched the bones of similar species. I find it hard to conceive that a huge animal like the Tyrannosaurus would be equipped with such skimpy and rather useless forelimbs.

[Carnoferox]

1 hour ago, Ryu said:

Maybe, like many other dinosaur skeletons in the past, we got the whole the Tyrannosaurus skeleton wrongly assembled. After all it has happened before and will happen again.

Perhaps when a large enough skeleton was found, paleontologists mismatched the bones of similar species. I find it hard to conceive that a huge animal like the Tyrannosaurus would be equipped with such skimpy and rather useless forelimbs.

That's an absurd notion considering the number of fairly complete and articulated skeletons that have been found. Not only did Tyrannosaurus have reduced forelimbs, but so did all other tyrannosaurids including Tarbosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Albertosaurus, and Gorgosaurus.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Carnoferox

[Kenemet]

21 hours ago, jarjarbinks said:

What if the arms are not like we thought they are. maybe they were made of small tissue like wings and we only found the bones parts (hands).

We found the arms.  They're not hands.  You can tell the difference.  Really.

[Kenemet]

On 11/5/2017 at 1:11 PM, UM-Bot said:

One palaeontologist has suggested that Tyrannosaurus rex may have used its arms as vicious weapons.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/313100/did-t-rex-use-its-tiny-arms-to-slash-prey

I think the rest of the paleontologists believe this is not workable.  The arms are tiny and short, and so are the fingers (they had only two fingers) and claws. 

[Carnoferox]

2 minutes ago, Kenemet said:

I think the rest of the paleontologists believe this is not workable.  The arms are tiny and short, and so are the fingers (they had only two fingers) and claws. 

As of now it's only an abstract, so we just have to wait for the full paper and hopefully a biomechanical analysis.

[Bendy Demon]

3 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

That's an absurd notion considering the number of fairly complete and articulated skeletons that have been found. Not only did Tyrannosaurus have reduced forelimbs, but so did all other tyrannosaurids including Tarbosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Albertosaurus, and Gorgosaurus.

Sorry that  I offended you with my 'absurd' notion, I was under the mistaken impression that we were having a civilized discussion.

[Twin]

I think they used them to pick their teeth.

[Carnoferox]

3 hours ago, Ryu said:

Sorry that  I offended you with my 'absurd' notion, I was under the mistaken impression that we were having a civilized discussion.

I didn't mean to get off on the wrong foot, but Tyrannosaurus rex is known from so much complete and articulated material that it is indeed absurd to say that its skeleton has been reconstructed completely wrong or that the arms don't belong to that species.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Carnoferox

[Tatetopa]

I believe that most species that evolve and remain in existence for millions of years come up with pretty workable body plans.   Tyrannosaurids persisted for quite a long time through a number of species.  We think the arms are "absurd"  because we don't understand how they were used in life.  The various species do not seem to be hampered by the lack of large forelimbs. I think humans are especially prone to think of our arms and hands as indispensable.   They are to us, but not to other body plans.  

Carnoferox or Kenemet, weren't the arms about the length of human arms but more robustly built?  That may seem small on the front of a T rex, but maybe we shouldn't think of them as tiny.  Also,  did arm proportion change from hatchling, to juvenile, to adult?  They might have served different utility at some point in development.  Thanks.

 

[Carnoferox]

1 hour ago, Tatetopa said:

I believe that most species that evolve and remain in existence for millions of years come up with pretty workable body plans.   Tyrannosaurids persisted for quite a long time through a number of species.  We think the arms are "absurd"  because we don't understand how they were used in life.  The various species do not seem to be hampered by the lack of large forelimbs. I think humans are especially prone to think of our arms and hands as indispensable.   They are to us, but not to other body plans.  

Carnoferox or Kenemet, weren't the arms about the length of human arms but more robustly built?  That may seem small on the front of a T rex, but maybe we shouldn't think of them as tiny.  Also,  did arm proportion change from hatchling, to juvenile, to adult?  They might have served different utility at some point in development.  Thanks.

 

Sue's arms are about the same length as a human's and she's a 40 foot-long adult. You are correct that tyrannosaurid arms are much more robust than those of humans. However, juvenile tyrannosaurids don't show any significant difference in forelimb proportions.

A picture of Sue's right humerus from Brochu (2003), with the scale bar being 5 cm:

Edited November 7, 2017 by Carnoferox

[Tatetopa]

20 hours ago, Carnoferox said:

However, juvenile tyrannosaurids don't show any significant difference in forelimb proportions.

A picture of Sue's right humerus from Brochu (2003), with the scale bar being 5 cm:

Thanks for that!