Re: The uses of sickle claws

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

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
> 
> 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

        Could this behaviour even have been the impetus for the
later ceratopsians developing horns? It seems that there is a
concentration of armourment at the front end of ceratopsians,
whereas many other dino herbivores seem to have favoured the
tail or hind quaters for active defence (stegos, shunosaurs,
ankylosaurs, diplodocids).
-- 
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        Dann Pigdon
        Melbourne, Australia
        http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/4459/
        http://www.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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