Re: So-called sickle claws

[Jonathon Woolf <jwoolf@erinet.com>]

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:

<snip>

> If you are looking for an analogue for dromaeosaurid claws, you may wish to
> examine the claws of cats.  (Which brings us back to the start of this
> thing, I think).

In connection with this, I ran across an interesting snippet of
information about leopards in a book I bought recently.  It seems that
leopard claws have a sort of groove in the underside, which often traps
bits of flesh.  The flesh then putrefies, and of course feeds several
sorts of noxious bacteria in the process, with the end result that a
clawing from a leopard is nearly as deadly as a bite from a Komodo
dragon lizard.  Just as with a dragon, the bacteria get into the wound
and then into the blood, and the victim dies of septicemia.


-- JSW