3 ms·
It might be for balance despite the small size. On the human side, our pinky toes are important for balance despite appearing a little bit vestigial.
by codexjourneys 4y ago
It might be for balance despite the small size. On the human side, our pinky toes are important for balance despite appearing a little bit vestigial.
- mannykannot 4y agoLike the halteres of flies, perhaps? Another possibility/question I was idly wondering about is whether they were proportionately larger for juveniles and served some purpose that full-grown adults did not need. Maybe digging out of nests? - though I think specializations only for hatching (e.g. egg teeth) tend to disappear shortly after.
- codexjourneys 4y agoYeah, I didn't know about halteres but just looked up the image! Here's something on changes during T. rex growth: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3192160/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3192160/
- mannykannot 4y agoThanks for the paper! It seems that, while the juvenile limbs were proportionately longer than they were in adults, they were still tiny (figures 2 and 3.)