January 31, 2012
T. rex Trying…
A reconstruction of Tyrannosaurus rex on display at the National Museum of Natural History. Photo by the author.
I can’t help feel bad for Tyrannosaurus. The dinosaur’s relatively minuscule arms are a near-constant source of ridicule. It doesn’t matter that there were other fearsome predatory dinosaurs with even smaller and apparently useless arms—the short arms of the “tyrant king” are a cruel evolutionary joke.
All the same, the tumblr blog T-Rex Trying… is a whimsical line-drawing catalog of all the things Tyrannosaurus couldn’t do with those small arms. Everything from cross-country skiing to simply counting to five would have posed a challenge, although I think my personal favorite is Tyrannosaurus trying to navigate the sneeze-guard at a buffet. Although such a scenario assumes that Tyrannosaurus would have had the manners to stand in line for the steam-tray fare and would not have gobbled up the bacon- and potato-stuffed clientele….
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Poor disabled T-rex
Have you ever given thought to doing an AMA on Reddit?
Hi! Hugh Murphy here- I’m the author of T-Rex Trying. So glad that you like my cartoons. HUGE life-long fan of the Smithsonian. Awesome.
At least T. rex could play the ukulele.
I am a fairly new fan of the Smithsonian through facebook….I have fallen in love with all of the Dinasaur Tracking articles… Keep up the great work as it is so appreciated by so many who can’t ever visit the actual museum.
Off to order my copy now of T-Rex Trying!!
From a fan near Vancouver BC Canada.. The Wet West Coast
I bet T-rex could’ve done knitting, though.
Classic and clever!
We gave one of our older adult Rex males a retirement gold watch but he’s still unable to tell time – and we presume he hasn’t seen the watch since he first put it on.
We gave one of our older Rex males a retirement gold watch a few months ago, but he’s still can’t tell time – and we presume he hasn’t seen the watch since he first put it on (there are no mirrors in our T. rex Paddock).
Actually their arms aren’t quite as puny as it seems. Remember size is always relative. For example, their musculature is extrememly well designed and powerful. It’s estimated they could lift more than 600 pounds with one arm without straining. See the following summary:
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus)
“Tyrannosaurus rex forelimb bones exhibit extremely thick cortical bone, indicating that they were developed to withstand heavy loads. The biceps brachii muscle of a full-grown Tyrannosaurus rex was capable of lifting 199 kilograms (439 lb) by itself; other muscles such as the brachialis would work along with the biceps to make elbow flexion even more powerful. The M. biceps muscle of T. rex was 3.5 times as powerful as the human equivalent. A Tyrannosaurus rex forearm also had a reduced range of motion, with the shoulder and elbow joints allowing only 40 and 45 degrees of motion, respectively. In contrast, the same two joints in Deinonychus allow up to 88 and 130 degrees of motion, respectively, while a human arm can rotate 360 degrees at the shoulder and move through 165 degrees at the elbow. The heavy build of the arm bones, extreme strength of the muscles, and limited range of motion may indicate a system evolved to hold fast despite the stresses of a struggling prey animal. Carpenter and Smith dismissed notions that the forelimbs were useless or that Tyrannosaurus rex was an obligate scavenger.[60]“