Re: Dilophosaurus Forelimb Bone Maladies

[Darius Nau <dariusnau@gmx.at>]

Why then have forelimbs that are so exceptionately prone to pathology, 
including such injuries as would result from use of the forelimb in 
predation (e.g. the probable avulsion on the left thumb), if they 
weren’t actually of much use for that purpose?
Generally, one would expect a structure that gets used frequently in 
activity involving significant stresses to be particularly prone to injury.

Potential activity-related forelimb pathology in this and other 
theropods could very well be a direct result of their strenuous 
activity, the animal’s ability to survive without them notwithstanding 
(unless the argument was only that they weren’t so useful that they were 
absolutely essential to the animal’s survival).

Nobody would claim that a crocodile’s jaws aren’t all that useful for 
predation after all, and yet there is ample documentation of crocodiles 
that survived having their snouts bitten off.

On 26.02.2016 02:44, Tim Williams wrote:
> The authors propose that during the long healing period, the use of
> the forelimbs by this smashed-up_Dilophosaurus_   was severely
> compromised.  But it wasn't fatal.  This supports the interpretation
> that theropod forelimbs were not all that useful for predation - even
> when the forelimbs were healthy and undamaged.


Yours sincerely,

Darius Nau
--
dariusnau@gmx.at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.paleo.keepfree.de&d=CwIDaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=x82f3Wlkwtmbr1z8IAt9jA&m=uGsXWLSVi2TLSGOsGKS0eoDL6BpFlT6nbXQ6b7V8Iu8&s=Ka96S_MfRmcuiT6aIWKQEDppTZOjEYKXgkCTPWg9rW8&e=