Re: SCRAPPING TYRANNOSAURS..

["Nicholas R. Longrich" <longrich@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

On Tue, 28 Nov 1995, Jeffrey Martz wrote:

> > I have often wondered if  a leaping, two-legged kick might not also have
> > been the standard attack method of Velociraptor and its kin (especially as
> > it has a big advantage over cassowaries in that it can grab the kickee
> > first), rather than the balancing-on-one-leg kick usually described - after
> > all, why not use two weapons at once if you have them?

If I'd bothered to read all my new mail first, I would have seen that all 
my points had already been made, sorry about that...
        That fantastic fossil of Velociraptor and a Protoceratops locked 
in combat has the Velociraptor gripping the head of the Protoceratops and 
slashing it's neck. And those arms were pretty well-developed, as well, 
so they would have seen use in gripping the prey. 
One possible problem with a leaping midair attack is that you'd lose a 
lot of force- the force of the kick would push you backwards, while
 standing on the ground prevents this. So does grabbing onto the prey
 animal.
 And as for those Tyrannosaur forelimbs- those things could pull
hundreds of pounds per arm, they seem to have been used as grappling 
hooks to secure the prey while the tyrannosaur takes a bite out. So they 
certainly weren't vestigial. They do display surprisingly little 
curvature, or at least, I thought so after looking at eagle claws, which 
curve through over ninety degrees.