Watch out T-rex! New giant dino with tiny arms discovered

A new giant dinosaur was recently discovered in the Patagonia region of Argentina with short arms reminiscent of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

This dino is being called Meraxes gigas — after a dragon in George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” books — and was found to be 36-feet long and weighing over four tons, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

Like the T. rex, which was one of the largest dinosaurs to have roamed the Earth, it is also a carnivore.

New species Meraxes gigas belongs to the Carcharodontosauridae group of dinosaurs, and this is the first fossil that reveals details about its skull, forearms and feet.

“For the first time we know, in a lot of detail, about certain parts of the anatomy of these giant carnivorous dinosaurs,” Juan Canale, the project lead at Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum in Neuquén, Argentina, told CNN.

Using an almost complete forearm, paleontologists were able to conclude that the Meraxes gigas became extinct almost 20 million years prior to T. rex’s existence.

Therefore, there is no direct relation between the two, according to Canale and the study.   

The species lived during the Cretaceous period, which was 145 to 66 million years ago, CNN reported.

The reason for these shorter arms was because of their large heads, another aspect of evolution for both dinosaurs. 

“What I think is that, in the more evolved forms . . . activities related to predation, such as grabbing or holding the prey, would have been performed straight away with the head,” Canale said.

He added that despite their short length, the Meraxes gigas’ arms were more muscular compared to those of a T. rex and that they had strong chest muscles.

The research team did not know whether or not this was indicative of the dinosaur being male or female.