this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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T. rex (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Does this mean that due to undersampling, we can only assume we have found the biggest fossils/skeletons/remains, and cannot know how big they could really get?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think it's the opposite. They're saying that physical limitations on size exist (bone strength, lung capacity) even if you only found one skeleton. So significantly bigger TRexs aren't possible.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Not according to this post https://lemmy.ml/comment/12594857

Edit: here's a direct link to the article if the link above is broken for some reason

https://news.sky.com/story/tyrannosaurus-rex-could-have-been-even-bigger-than-previously-thought-study-suggests-13184470

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That's not a link to the actual paper. The King of the Hill meme above claims that the actual paper says that physical limits apply to maximum size. This implies the article misrepresents the research paper.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Ah, I get it now. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don’t think that’s what the meme is claiming.

I think instead it’s just claiming that all fossils have the same implied increase in maximum size implied by the paper, not just T rex.

I’m guessing the illiterate paleo fans were excited that maybe T rex was king of the dinosaurs again, but the logic fails if all the dinosaurs get bigger max sizes…

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If that were the case then the first sentence wouldn't claim that there are physical limits.

I dug up the paper.

"Biomechanical and ecological limitations notwithstanding, we estimate that the absolute largest T. rex may have been 70% more massive than the currently largest known specimen (~15,000 vs. ~8800 kg)."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.11658

That is the paper says, if we ignore biomechanical limits, statistically there could be a T-Rex that's 70% bigger than what we have already found.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

That does make sense, though I read it as:

[the new, expanded] upper body size limits…

Is how I read it, but your interpretation works well too, so I don’t really know now.