Re: So-called Sickle Claws

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-08-29 04:52:07 EDT, vonrex@gte.net writes:

> There is no room for
>  "give" if the claw took any impact.  

There is "give" between phalanx II-2 and the ungual.


>  Also, the tip of the big claw appears to be blunt.  No doubt you will
>  conclude that it was simply preserved that way; broken.  But maybe it
>  wasn't preserved because it had been dulled or broken off in life through
>  usage.  

Abraded all the way down to the bony core??  Sounds unlikely.  Besides which,
from the drawings (_Dinosauria_, p. 274-5) it appears that *all* the claws,
hand and foot, have their tips broken off.  Are you prepared to contend that
_D. antirrhopus_ was walking on all fours?

>  If a ligament held the claw up that far all the time, it would be a
>  ligament mightily stretched anytime the animal wanted to flex that toe
>  much.  

No more so than when a sauropod bent its head down to drink or when a
perching bird stands on the ground.

NP