Hello.
The question has been continually asked "what purpose did the small strong forearms of t-rex serve?".
Theories seem to be few and far between, so I'd like to add my voice to the discussion and perhaps you can tell me if my line of thinking has any possibility of being plausible!
My theory hinges totally on an associated question of what the habitat was like where t-rex lived.
All of the "dinosaur-book" pictures usually show t-rex running across a sparsely vegetated rocky plain, in hot pursuit of some other creature, or in a death grip with a triceratops. (reference i.e. http://www.prehistory.com/timeline/cretace.htm)
What I want to believe is that the world of t-rex was anything BUT arid.
I'm thinking instead thick vegetation, jungles, swamps, trees and brush so thick that we would find such a world completely impassable. But not t-rex nor many of the other giant creatures of the Cretaceous period.
Can you answer that first question for me?
Could the normal habitat of t-rex have been densely vegetated jungle?
Once I have that answer, I'd like to share my idea of the possible purpose of those short fore-arms, if you haven't guessed at my thinking already!
Thanks,
Ed Dowdall
Granite Springs, NY
P.S. I suggested this theory to someone in your field a number of years ago, but never received any response. I hope to hear back from someone, if even to say "no one knows for sure".