| Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web. While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous. Join our community today! |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| T.Rex Arms Used for Slashing | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Oct 26 2017, 10:19 PM (494 Views) | |
| Troy Troodon | Oct 26 2017, 10:19 PM Post #1 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Apperantly T.Rex's Tiny Arms Were More Useful Than We Thought. |
| I was benevolent and good, but misery made me a fiend! | |
![]() |
|
| Yiqi15 | Oct 27 2017, 04:25 PM Post #2 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
While I now have the image of a t. rex slashing another rival, I'm not sure it would have been that useful for CQC due to how proportionally small they were, something the article itself notes. |
|
Current/Completed Projects - After the Holocene: Your run-of-the-mill future evolution project. - A History of the Odessa Rhinoceros: What happens when you ship 28 southern white rhinoceri to Texas and try and farm them? Quite a lot, actually. Future Projects - XenoSphere: The greatest zoo in the galaxy. - The Curious Case of the Woolly Giraffe: A case study of an eocene relic. - Untittled Asylum Studios-Based Project: The truth behind all the CGI schlock - Riggslandia V.II: A World 150 million years in the making Potential Projects - Klowns: The biology and culture of a creepy-yet-fascinating being My Zoochat and Fadom Accounts - Zoochat - Fandom | |
![]() |
|
| ÐK | Oct 27 2017, 04:42 PM Post #3 |
![]()
Adult
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
To summarise every palaeontologist and other professional and well esteemed palaeo-enthusiast I've seen on social media respond to this: "No". Tyrannosaurids have better developed arms than other short-limbed theropods for sure, and probably had some sort of function as a consequence. But slashing, as in actively using the claws to rip and tear flesh? For one, the study doesn't even examine claw-shape to see if they're even capable of such a thing. Even other long-armed theropods don't really have "slashing" claws to begin with, so the conclusion that the arms were built for slashing is dubious at best. They also don't factor in that shoulder girdles provide attachment sites for other muscles not involved with the arms, so the conclusion that a robust shoulder = strong arms is flawed (other short-armed archosaurs, like abelisaurids, Limusaurus and even Effigia all have big shoulder girdles and their arms are even more reduced!). Nothing else was done to test this, no alternatives were properly explored, they just took potentially strong arm bones with curved claws on them and went straight to concluding they were specifically evolved slashing weapons. But it's T. rex stuff, so news outlets will jump on it, including the flawed science like this (it wasn't even properly published, it was just a talk and only exists as an abstract online!). |
|
~Projects~ • Earth Without Earth; Like nothing on Earth...
~Mark Witton, Pterosaurs (Chapter 3, page 18)
~Troll Man, Skype (15/2/15)
~Komodo, Zebra's sent back in time (4/1/13) | |
![]() |
|
| Troy Troodon | Oct 27 2017, 06:09 PM Post #4 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
So it was just clickbait then?! |
| I was benevolent and good, but misery made me a fiend! | |
![]() |
|
| Yiqi15 | Oct 27 2017, 06:13 PM Post #5 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
And so sensationalised scientific journalism strikes again. |
|
Current/Completed Projects - After the Holocene: Your run-of-the-mill future evolution project. - A History of the Odessa Rhinoceros: What happens when you ship 28 southern white rhinoceri to Texas and try and farm them? Quite a lot, actually. Future Projects - XenoSphere: The greatest zoo in the galaxy. - The Curious Case of the Woolly Giraffe: A case study of an eocene relic. - Untittled Asylum Studios-Based Project: The truth behind all the CGI schlock - Riggslandia V.II: A World 150 million years in the making Potential Projects - Klowns: The biology and culture of a creepy-yet-fascinating being My Zoochat and Fadom Accounts - Zoochat - Fandom | |
![]() |
|
| Troy Troodon | Oct 27 2017, 06:30 PM Post #6 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
... Why do I always fall for these things? |
| I was benevolent and good, but misery made me a fiend! | |
![]() |
|
| ÐK | Oct 27 2017, 06:58 PM Post #7 |
![]()
Adult
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Nah, this isn't clickbait, just another case of subpar science being presented to you by the news. |
|
~Projects~ • Earth Without Earth; Like nothing on Earth...
~Mark Witton, Pterosaurs (Chapter 3, page 18)
~Troll Man, Skype (15/2/15)
~Komodo, Zebra's sent back in time (4/1/13) | |
![]() |
|
| Tartarus | Oct 27 2017, 07:15 PM Post #8 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
The media often seems to jump on scientific ideas based on very little and then blow their significance out of proportion. This reminds me of the recent nonsense where a vast amount of online articles (which were, in a way, just the same article rewritten by different people over and over) saying it was proven for sure that T-rex couldn't run, just because ONE rather dubious study had made that claim. That said, even if T-rex arms were not for slashing, the basic idea that they are not completely useless makes sense. Also, it should be noted that they arms are only really tiny when compared to the huge creature they're attached to. T-rex arms were about as long as human arms and strong enough to probably beat any of us in an arm wrestling contest. |
![]() |
|
| Mao | Oct 28 2017, 09:06 PM Post #9 |
|
Homo Erection
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
wait. how would a tyrannosaur use it's damn year vestigial emu-like hands to slash prey? |
| As of my gender, I have every gender imaginable, some even inconceivable to your minds. I have every gender in the gender spectrum, as well as ones you cannot envision. | |
![]() |
|
| DroidSyber | Oct 28 2017, 09:11 PM Post #10 |
![]()
I'll cut ya swear on me mum
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Tyrannosaur arms were reduced, not vestigial, and had powerful musculature, likely used to grasp mates. |
|
Non Enim Cadunt! No idea how to actually hold down a project. | |
![]() |
|
| Mao | Oct 29 2017, 06:57 PM Post #11 |
|
Homo Erection
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
how does one use it's tiny little emu-arms to grasp? I guess you can say I can't really grasp this idea. Edited by Mao, Oct 29 2017, 06:58 PM.
|
| As of my gender, I have every gender imaginable, some even inconceivable to your minds. I have every gender in the gender spectrum, as well as ones you cannot envision. | |
![]() |
|
| dino-ken | Dec 27 2017, 11:35 AM Post #12 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I know this thread is about 2 months old - but this is the first time I noticed it. I could see those arms could have been useful in allow T.rex and the other tyrannosaurids to grasp during mating or while feeding on a dead dinosaur. But definitely not being used in the capture of with live prey. Instead - I tend to see them using those arms in 4 different ways. 1st - as a possible signal displays during courtship. 2nd - To allow to males to grasp on to the females during mating. 3rd - To help them stand up, from a laying down position. 4th - to allow them to stable their food while feeding. By comparison - I could see the Tyrannosauroids like Dryptosaurus and Yutyrannus actually using the arms to aid in the capture of their prey. Edited by dino-ken, Dec 27 2017, 11:38 AM.
|
![]() |
|
| Rodlox | Dec 28 2017, 12:05 AM Post #13 |
|
Superhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
the same way whales use and used their vestigial and near-vestigial hind legs for that as well. though I note everyone failed to assume T.rex was using its arms for slashing -- that is, for writing fanfiction involving individuals of the same sex having relations of a "beast of two backs" nature. |
|
.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
![]() |
|
| Άγιος Βασίλης | Dec 28 2017, 01:14 PM Post #14 |
|
Seems like they would be too short. |
![]() |
|
| Άγιος Βασίλης | Dec 28 2017, 01:14 PM Post #15 |
|
Seems like they would be too short. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Science Central · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2









7:24 PM Jul 10