T. rex posed a serious risk—to other T. rexes, too
Tyrannosaurus rex is known for its short front limbs. The arms are approximately the same length as adult human arms, despite the dinosaur growing to some 3.5 m (12 ft) high and 12 m (40 ft) long. A study claims the relatively tiny limbs were likely an adaptation that reduced the risk of damage from “the deadliest jaws ever recorded on land.” But they were far stronger even than the strongest human weightlifter’s arms; the bones were very strong and had areas for attachment of huge muscles. The biceps could curl 199 kg (439 lb).
The idea is that T. rex supposedly fed in packs, with rivals snapping at each other during feeding frenzies. The large, banana-shaped teeth and long jaws were easily able to inflict nasty wounds. A serious bite to the arm could lead to the animal bleeding to death or dying a prolonged death from infection.
Despite a shortage of fossil evidence, evolutionists assume that T. rex evolved from earlier (smaller, different) dinosaurs. These all had relatively longer arms, so in the evolutionary wordview, the forelimbs’ relative length must have declined over time. The study tries to answer why, and concludes it was to keep the arms out of easy range of bites, since longer arms meant greater risk of death. But there are plenty of long-armed pack-hunting carnivores today, so the proposal seems ad hoc.
Alternatively, even if the short arms were adaptive, it would still be consistent with God creating the tyrannosaur kind with short arms. The pack feeding scenario described is feasible in the violent world that followed the Fall/Curse. Natural selection within the tyrannosaur kind as proposed in the study could conceivably have shortened forelimbs to an extent. (Elephants’ tusks have shortened, within a few generations, due to selection pressure from poaching—see creation.com/elephant-tusks.)
None of this requires any new information to arise, so no Darwinian evolution.
- Padian, K., Why tyrannosaurid forelimbs were so short: An integrative hypothesis, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67(1):63–76, 2022.
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