Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'forearm'.
-
Could T-rex’s “useless forearms” be competing with head and neck musculature?
Sightreader posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
OK, some naive, pure speculation about those “useless forearms” on large theropods (T-rex, abelisaurs, etc…) Could it be that, in theropods, arms muscles actually compete with head and neck muscles for attachment space on the shoulder girdle? I can’t answer this because I have no idea how the muscles are laid out for theropods. Is there even such a thing as neck muscles that attach to the shoulder girdle, or are these completely unrelated muscle systems? Would reducing arm musculature provide any sort of advantage to the head and neck of theropods? My thought is that, having the combination of having powerful jaws capable of securing a grip on massive victims, then having the necessary neck and head strength needed to either wrench around or yank big chunks off the dangerously powerful prey of the time might be such a key advantage that it would be worth giving up your arms for. This would not mean, then, that their forearms are necessarily “useless”, which might explain why some of these tiny arms remain as well-muscled as they can be (without sacrificing head or neck power). In addition, I heard somewhere that weight and volume grow by the CUBE of size while muscle strength only grows by the SQUARE of size (that is, by the area of a muscle cross-section). I don’t know if it’s really that simple, but it would mean that, as these theropod heads and necks get bigger and bigger, they would need proportionally a LOT more neck musculature to catch up with the faster growth in head weight and inertia. Of course, this would not explain why those tiny, wacky alvarezsaurids have small forearms… that would have to be a totally different selection pressure. Does this make any sense at all or did I just make a complete fool of myself? Be gentle… I’m obviously new at this, lol!- 18 replies
-
- 1
-
- abelisaur
- alvarezsaurid
-
(and 5 more)
Tagged with:
-
I know about the 2 vertebrates in the jacket but the other bones, do you think these are part of the Spinosaur forearms? Fossil found in Morocco.