Re: The uses of sickle claws

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 06:35 PM 9/18/97 -0700, Sankarah wrote:
>Just a few thoughts that occurred to me whilst pondering sabretoothed
>cats (and, uh, whatever): 
>
>Some on this list have brought up the hypothesis that sabretooths used
>their impressive teeth to tear out a prey animal's throat; I was
>wondering, why couldn't a dromy do the same thing?

They did.

This is where the foot claw of the _Velociraptor_ in the "fighting
dinosaurs" pair is placed: within the throat of the _Protoceratops_.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661