Re: [dinosaur] Theropod and bird lifestyles from ungual bone curvatures (free pdf)

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Fri, Feb 7th, 2020 at 10:36 AM, David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> 
wrote:

> > Learned behaviour (i.e. 'culture') can also be passed down to offspring, or
>>  indeed to any group member regardless of genetic affinities.
> 
> Yes, but that's not likely to affect claw curvature (except by wear, which
> should be visible even in 2D fossils that are well enough preserved to retain
> the keratin in the first place).

Many physical characteristics of organisms can be affected by behaviour during 
their development. I would 
expect to see differences in claw curvature in populations that spent more time 
on the ground than those 
that spent more time perching, even if both populations were the same species 
(and closely related at 
that). Such behavioural differences might be forced upon populations due to 
environmental conditions 
(e.g. few trees or large shrubs in the area to perch in), or they could simply 
be cultural quirks of individual 
groups. 


-- 
Dann Pigdon