Another theory is that the enormous head of T. rex’s arms became shorter as its head grew more massive to prevent the dinosaur from becoming top-heavy. rex used its arms, but they know that they were too short to help with eating. rex’s arms were powerfully muscled and ended in two mobile fingers with large claws. Still, 15 mph was fast enough to hunt down other large dinosaurs, most of which were designed for even slower movement. rex did not run but walked at speeds up to 15 mph. Recent computer models and other evidence suggest that T. rex had a good sense of smell, much like other predatory dinosaurs. rex’s olfactory bulbs (the part of the brain used to process smell) were large, and scientists believe that T. Because of its forward-facing eyes, it might have had better depth perception than most other predatory dinosaurs. rex had senses that were similar to those of its close relatives, birds and crocodiles.
rex skulls and teeth reveal that it was a meat eater, and judging from its size, it could have eaten whatever animal it could catch or scavenge. Lush plant life supported a diverse animal community ranging from dinosaurs to mammals to insects. The global climate was also warmer than it is now. rex was alive?Īlthough the current landscape of Wyoming and Montana is dry and grassy, it probably resembled a Louisiana floodplain when T. rex lived about 66–68 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in the western United States, including Montana and Wyoming. So, Tyrannosaurus rex was “King of the Tyrant Lizards.” “Tyrannosaurus” is Greek for “tyrant lizard,” and “rex” means “king” in Latin. What does the name “ Tyrannosaurus rex” mean?
Picture of t rex dinosaur android#
The findings of this study are detailed in Current Biology and can be accessed here.įor weather, science, space, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). This new discovery gives scientists clues about the evolution and biology of similar massive meat-eating dinosaurs including the Tyrannosaurus rex. And the creature likely evolved that way to counterbalance its disproportionately large head. Researchers believe that another factor that might have led to the Meraxes developing small arms was its massive head. Canale thinks that the Meraxes might have used their arms to get up after falling down or to hold a partner during mating. Juan Ignacio Canale, one of the Argentine researchers who found the fossils, said that the Meraxes' arms were very pretty muscular, suggesting they were used often. This also indicates that these tiny arms probably served an important purpose for them to evolve multiple times in dino history. This finding is particularly noteworthy because it shows that the small arms that both the Carcharodontosaurs and Tyrannosaurs possess evolved independently. However, this discovery proved that the Meraxes gigas stomped about northern Patagonia in the Late Cretaceous Epoch approximately 95 million years ago - about 20 million years before the T. In fact, this was the very reason why this group was initially believed to be a part of the Tyrannosaurid clade. The carnivore belongs to the Carcharodontosauridae group of dinosaurs, of which several fossils have been found in the last three decades, but little was known about their skull, forearms or feet. But the highlight of the findings is that the dinosaur had teeny-tiny arms, just like the T. Standing at the height of 11 metres (36 feet) and weighing roughly 4000 kgs, the dinosaur sported several crests, bumps and horns on its skull, which lent it a menacing appearance. And the specific name gigas comes from a Greek word meaning 'giant'. The generic epithet is an ode to a dragon in the Game of Thrones novel series. The dinosaur has been christened Meraxes gigas. And after spending a decade analysing the remains of what was most certainly a fearsome creature, palaeontologists are finally confident that this is a new species. In 2012, the almost-complete skeleton of a new kind of dinosaur was found in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina. But word on the street is that the tyrannosaurids weren't the only group endowed with such freakishly small arms! And we don't blame you - thanks to pop culture, the image of the massive tyrannosaurid running about with its tiny hands flailing about with no apparent purpose is permanently lodged in our brains. When someone mentions a dinosaur with a gigantic head and puny little arms, you are obviously going to picture a T.
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