{"id":93369,"date":"2025-11-23T13:29:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T13:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/study-reveals-reasons-for-dinosaurs-large-skulls-small-arms"},"modified":"2025-11-23T19:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T19:03:08","slug":"study-reveals-reasons-for-dinosaurs-large-skulls-small-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/study-reveals-reasons-for-dinosaurs-large-skulls-small-arms","title":{"rendered":"Study Reveals Reasons for Dinosaurs’ Large Skulls Small Arms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Paleontologists initially discovered the remains of the Meraxes dinosaur in South America in 2012. They have spent the last ten years extracting, preparing, and analyzing the previously unknown specimen, which weighed a whopping 9,000 pounds (4,000 kilograms).<\/p>\n

The discovery of a new, huge, meat-eating dinosaur dubbed Meraxes gigas offered many clues about the evolution and biology of these extinct reptiles, specifically, why they had such big skulls and tiny arms, a new study has revealed.<\/p>\n

The study, which was recently published in the journal Current Biology, was conducted by a team co-led by University of Minnesota researcher Peter Makovicky and his Argentinean colleagues Sebastian Apesteguia and Juan Canale.<\/p>\n

The researchers explained that Meraxes is part of the group of giant carnivorous dinosaurs that also includes Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex.<\/p>\n

According to the scientists, the discovery of Meraxes helped them realize that all three reptiles grew in similar ways, and that as they evolved, their skulls grew larger and their arms progressively shorter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t worry so much about what the arms are being used for, because the arms are actually being reduced as a consequence of the skulls becoming massive. Whatever the arms may or may not have been used for, they\u2019re taking on a secondary function since the skull is being optimized to handle larger prey,\u201d Macovicky pointed out.<\/p>\n

Actually, the discovery of Meraxes is not that new given the fact that the reptile\u2019s remains were initially found in South America\u2019s Patagonia region in 2012. Since, researchers have meticulously analyzed the specimen.<\/p>\n

Not the largest reptile of its family, Meraxes, however, could make your eyebrows raise with its imposing proportions. The paleontologists suggest that the dinosaur measured around 36 feet (10 metres) from snout to tail and weighed about 9,000 pounds (4,000 kg). Just for comparison, African elephants, the largest of all land animals, weigh between 1,800 and 6,300 kg.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Paleontologists initially discovered the remains of the Meraxes dinosaur in South America in 2012. They have spent the last ten years extracting, preparing, and analyzing the previously unknown specimen, which weighed a whopping 9,000 pounds (4,000 kilograms). The discovery of a new, huge, meat-eating dinosaur dubbed Meraxes gigas offered many clues about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-93369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nStudy Reveals Reasons for Dinosaurs' Large Skulls Small Arms - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paleontologists initially discovered the remains of the Meraxes dinosaur in South America in 2012. 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