Re: Mononykus

[Bettyc <Bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

jamolnar@juno.com wrote:
>  No animal today has these extremes.  If
> you dig AND run (like a rabbit), your limbs are a compromise between the
> 2 needs.  The limbs are not maximized as the best for running or the best
> for digging, but have elements of both and are constrained from being
> perfect for either.  


Rabbits are 4-legged critters.  Of course they continue to use their
digging limbs as locomoting limbs and thus the compromise you mention.
Mononykus is a biped.
Since dinosaurs freed their arms for wing development because they only
locomoted on 2 legs, why couldn't they use the other 2 for other things
since they weren't using them for terrestial locomotion?
My problem with Mononykus being a digger is that the claws are so dang
stumpy-not long and spatula-shaped like a mole's or ground sloth's or
anteater's or spiny echidna's or desert tortoise's, but short,
broad-based and stumpy.  Can't think of anything that has claws like
that on an arm like that to compare it to.
Maybe you're right, maybe it's a chimera.
-- 

           Betty Cunningham  
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