What did T-Rex do with his tiny arms? Scientists have finally figured it out

Running into a Tyrannosaurus rex in the wild would have been a truly frightening thing for just about any animal in the world between 65 million and 80 million years ago, and for an obvious reason. The mighty meat-eater was huge and had a mouth built to turn bones into powder. If it snagged you with its jaws, you were probably going bad, but nobody was afraid of its puny little arms … or were they?

As Live Science Reports, a recent study presented at a recent meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology took a closer look at how T-Rex's arms would have functioned, and it makes some bold predictions.

Just how T-Rex was used for hotly debated for years. Some believe the arms did not much of anything, while others suggested that the tiny limbs flailed wildly with sharp claws that could have seriously injured prey or foes.

This latest round of research approaches from a different angle, seeking to determine the range of movements of the armed forces has clue to their usefulness. The researchers studied the distant relative, the alligator and the turkey, for hints. What the team concluded was that the T-Rex could have been in his hands or not.

The idea here is that the T-Rex knew its most potent weapon and it used its arms to keep the perfect distance. T-Rex or similar upright carnivore find a meal, but the researchers are confident in what the fossils and modern animals tell us about the dinosaur could move its limbs.