Re: Humor: the Uses of Sickle Claws

["Peter Von Sholly" <vonrex@gte.net>]

Actually, what I'm objecting to is the depiction or Deinonychus et al as
using JUST those toes as their only attack weapons while the others dangle
uselessly.  And again, they need to be able to do far more than just
support the animal's weight.  An object flying through the air strikes with
much more force than just its normal weight- and then it has to hang on to
its prey which is probably not going to just stand still and let itself be
torn up.  
But of course I'm sure that Dromaeosaurids were capable, savage predators
and could do lots of damage with their toes and claws and teeth. 
Also I have a problem with artwork that shows digit two retracted as far
back as it could possibly go- NO MATTER WHAT POSITION THE LEG AND FOOT ARE
IN!  To me that is indefensible nonsense and it started with Ostrom (and
even more powerfully, Bakker's famous drawing of the running Deinonychus-
which looks like it would disembowel itself and shred its own elbows
running that way!) Sorry if I beat this into the ground, folks.  I know
many of you are sick of it.

----------
> From: charger72@juno.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Humor: the Uses of Sickle Claws
> Date: Tuesday, September 30, 1997 7:14 PM
> 
> I'll admit that my toes probably wouldn't support my weight in such a
> situation, even with huge claws. However, evolution hasn't seen fit to
> equip me with said claws and the necessary musculo-skeletal systems to
> articulate it. The claws of deinonychus (which I'm most familiar with)
> had attaching points for huge tendons that would have allowed them to
> support a large weight. Whether it would be enough to support the whole
> animal is a matter of conjecture since we can only estimate their weight
> and the amount of force exerted by the claws.
> Anyway, my point was that if I can lift my weight with my rather small
> toes, I'm sure dromies could do at least as much (and probably more) with
> their oversized second digit.