Re: Mononykus

["Dictator-for-life Calvin" <MWEDEL@gslan.offsys.uoknor.edu>]

>Could the mani have evolved from the practice of pulling bark off the 
>base of trees to eat insects?

I don't know much about this subject, but don't modern animals that 
search for bugs under bark tend to have really, really long 
appendages?  There's some little primate relative, I want to say 
tarsier but I'm not sure, that has a seriously elongated middle 
finger.

What really puzzles me isn't why the claw is so big, it's why the arm 
is so short.  Why would an animal need to apply that kind of force 
so close to the body?  Sloths or anteaters or moles or, for that 
matter, dromaeosaurs, that all have big claws, have them out there 
quite a ways from the body.  I would think that anything you would 
need to bring that kind of claw to bear against, would not be 
something you would want to have so close to your precious innards.

If anybody has any ideas on why those arms are so short, I'm all 
ears.

Matt Wedel