It’s all in the tail: New theory for why some dinos stood on two feet
EDMONTON — Paleontologists at the University of Alberta have a new theory explaining why some dinosaurs stood on two feet instead of four — their ancestors’ need for speed.
Earlier creatures called proto-dinosaurs originally walked on all fours, but at one point evolved to stand upright. That trait was passed on to their much larger dinosaur descendants.
The going theory had been that proto-dinosaurs became bipedal so that their forelimbs were free to catch prey.
Scott Persons, lead author of a paper published this month in The Journal of Theoretical Biology, said that theory doesn’t stand up.