Dinosaur finding hints at why T-rex had small arms

Scientists from Argentina claim to have found a new species of enormous predatory dinosaur with little limbs compared to its size but a big head.

The researchers claim that in northern Patagonia, significant skeletal remains of a previously undiscovered species were discovered.

Meraxes gigas had 2 ft. arms despite being over 36 feet (11 metres) long and having a 4-foot cranium.

The researchers think that the carnivores’ tiny limbs provided them with survival advantages.

“Those arms were disproportionately small, but I’m sure they had a purpose. The arm possessed strong muscles, as seen by the skeleton’s big muscular insertions and completely developed pectoral girdles, “Juan Canale, the study’s lead author, remarked.

“They might have held the female during mating or supported themselves to stand back up after a break or a tumble,” he continued.

The dinosaur’s limbs were “literally half the length of the skull,” according to his co-author Peter Makovicky, and the animal could not have reached its mouth.

According to Mr Makovicky, the predatory instrument of choice for the species was its enormous heads, which served the roles that arms would have in smaller animals.

The fictitious dragon Meraxes gigas, named after one in the Game of Thrones book series, belongs to the group of creatures known as carcharodontosaurids, or shark-toothed lizards.

It is estimated that the four-ton reptiles walked the Earth 90–100 million years ago.

The researchers assert that tyrannosaurids and abelisaurids, two more taxa, also evolved short arms for related purposes.