Why did tyrannosaurs have such small legs (5 photos)

Tyrannosaurus and many of its fellow theropods had giant bodies, but tiny paws compared to them. Let's find out what it is related.





Tyrannosaurus rex was a ferocious predator, and had one of the most powerful bites among all the inhabitants of the planet. They existed for more than 66 million years ago, and ate smaller dinosaurs - for example, Triceratops or Edmontosaurus. The only thing that at the sight this giant is striking - its paws, tiny compared to body sizes. Many of its dinosaur relatives also possessed such a trait. Scientists have already proposed several reasons for this feature.



One of the versions was put forward by a 2021 study published in journal Acta Paleontologica Polonica. Scientists have suggested that small forelimbs developed in tyrannosaurs during evolution. These animals pounced on their prey in a group, and with their paws tore off from it pieces - according to scientists, dinosaurs could easily damage and tear off each other's front paws in a fit of rage, therefore, in the course of evolution, their paws are getting smaller. But this is just one of the hypotheses.





Another version was proposed by John Hutchinson, a biologist from Royal Veterinary College, University of London. "Their paws they didn't get shorter, their legs just got longer. With the course of evolution tyrannosaurs became larger in size, and their forelimbs became smaller, and the body and head are larger, "said the scientist. With the course of evolution, animals can simply "disappear" some features that do not play important role for survival. Tyrannosaurus was more important for hunting a large powerful head than limbs - therefore, in the course of evolution, their paws did not grow as much as the rest of the body.



According to the scientist, at present there are not even significant evidence that the front legs somehow helped tyrannosaurs in hunting. Basically, they bit off large pieces from the prey, using jaw and strong neck. Large hind legs helped with this. stabilize the body. Hutchinson adds that currently At the moment, scientists do not have enough fossils and excavations to be more accurate recognize the function of the front legs of tyrannosaurs. Possibly future research will help discover something new about it.