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Re: Velociraptors - climbers



With all due respect to the authors of the papers, it's not entirely a
surprise that the claw is most resistant to forces applied in the
longitudinal plane of the claw. . .the cross-section of the claw is
thickest in this plane - the more material, the stronger the bone. No
computer model necessary. Of course, we see similar patterns (thickest
in the longitudinal plane, and thus presumably strongest in the
longitudinal plane) in a whole variety of animals - Allosaurus and
Tyrannosaurus manual claws, lions, etc., etc. Like Makovicky, I am
rather skeptical of the ultimate conclusions of the paper.

BTW, the paper is freely downloadable:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122578578/HTMLSTART

Andy