Re: origin of birds

[rowe (Mickey Rowe)]

HORTON@BCRSSU.AGR.CA (Scott Horton) writes:

>How do we know that dinosaurs did not "live" in trees? Perhaps small
>carnivores like Deinonychus could climb short distances into trees ...

Yes, in fact (and I'm saying these things only to see if Stan will
shoot them down :-) couldn't it be possible that a) the semi-lunate
bone in the wrist of _Deinonychus_ would allow it more mobility in the
hand in order to allow it to grab onto branches at odd angles and b)
the "terrible claw" on the toe of _Deinonycchus_ and other theropods
could have been used to grab onto tree trunks like the spikes in a
telephone repairman's boots?  How difficult would it be to reconcile
such a scenario with the orientation of the back-bone and tail as the
animal(s) attempted to climb?

Mickey Rowe     (rowe@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu)