The T Rex’s tiny baby arms might have been way more useful than they seem

霸王龍的小胳膊可能比看上去更有用


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

在野外遇到霸王龍對(duì)6500萬(wàn)到8千萬(wàn)年前在地球上游蕩的任何動(dòng)物來(lái)說(shuō)都是一件真正可怕的事情。原因很明顯，這只巨大的食肉動(dòng)物體型龐大，有一張能把骨頭變成粉末的嘴。但沒(méi)有人害怕它的小胳膊。

AsLive Sciencereports, a new study presented at a recent meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology took a close look at how T. rex’s arms would have functioned, and it makes some bold predictions.

在最近的一次脊椎動(dòng)物古生物學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)議上發(fā)表了一項(xiàng)新的研究，對(duì)霸王龍手臂的功能進(jìn)行了仔細(xì)觀察，并做出了一些大膽的預(yù)測(cè)。

Just how T. rex used its arms and for what purpose has been hotly debated for years and years. Some believe the arms didn’t do much of anything, whileothers have suggestedthat the tiny limbs flailed wildly with sharp claws that could have seriously injured prey or foes.

霸王龍是如何使用它的手臂的，為了什么目的，多年來(lái)人們一直在激烈爭(zhēng)論。有些人認(rèn)為手臂并沒(méi)有起到什么作用，而另一些人則暗示說(shuō)，這些細(xì)小的前肢利用鋒利的爪子瘋狂地撕扯，可能嚴(yán)重傷害了獵物或敵人。
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This latest round of research approaches things from a different angle, seeking to determine the range of movement of the arms as a clue to their usefulness. The researchers studied the limbs of two distant modern relatives, the alligator and turkey, for hints. What the team concluded is that the T. rex could likely have turned its hands inward if it wanted to, and it may have used its arms to hold prey in place or pull it closer.

最新一輪的研究從一個(gè)不同的角度來(lái)探尋，試圖確定手臂的運(yùn)動(dòng)范圍，以此作為它們有用的線索。研究人員研究了鱷魚和火雞這兩個(gè)遠(yuǎn)近現(xiàn)代近親的四肢，以尋找線索。研究小組得出的結(jié)論是，如果霸王龍想要的話，它可能會(huì)把手向內(nèi)轉(zhuǎn)。而且它可能用手臂抓住獵物，或者把它拉得更近。

The idea here is that the T. rex knew its jaws were its most potent weapon and so it used its arms to keep prey at the perfect biting distance. We’ll of course never know for sure unless we could somehow watch a T. rex or similar upright carnivore find a meal, but the researchers are confident in what the fossils and modern animals tell them about how the dinosaur could move its limbs.

這里的想法是，霸王龍知道它的下頜是它最有力的武器，所以它用它的手臂保持獵物在完美的咬合距離。我們當(dāng)然永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法確定，除非我們能以某種方式觀察到霸王龍或類似的直立食肉動(dòng)物尋找食物，但研究人員對(duì)此充滿信心，化石和現(xiàn)代動(dòng)物告訴他們恐龍如何移動(dòng)四肢。