Re: Molluscivory take two and a few other things

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Renato Santos (dracontes@hotmail.com) wrote:

<On that shell-oppening method, given the unability of maniraptors and
coelurosaurs in general to pronate their hands extensively I would argue that
an oviraptorosaur would deftly pick up the excavated clam or mussel hold it
between its second phalanx and metacarpal and then introduce the thumb claw
inbetween the valves of the mollusk and cut the aductor muscles of its prey. Is
this method too elaborate or unfeasible? I can imagine the antics a juvenile
dinosaur would get into trying to learn this ;-D>

  This seems a tad elaborate when simply prying the shell open will suffice.
And one can always use the jaw or an available crevice as a "third" hand. Or
even a foot.

  Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


                
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