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Brian Franczak wrote (27.3.98):
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3) Slashing claws... The "killer claw" of _Deinonychus_ is *rounded* on its underside, hardly a shape conducive to the "razor edge" of the purported "killer claw", since the keratin would conform to the shape of the bone. In fact, it resembles nothing so much as a raptor claw, and was just-as-likely used in the same manner, to hold down prey while the prey was being dispatched. Ken Carpenter, with whom I had a long discussion about this subject at SVP in New York in '96, agrees with this assessment. >
Although the "killer claw" was probably originally designed for
shinning up "trees", by Utahraptor for example it has grown incredibly
thin and bladelike. The fact that the bone core may not have been sharp
doesn't mean it wasn't used for ripping. Kangaroos and ostriches find
their much less specialised claws come in very handy for disembowelling.
Maybe the hide of _D_'s victims was too hard and rough for a sharp keratin edge
to be useful, or maybe the keratin was sharp over a blunt bone. I bet the
claw's edge was no blunter than the edge of _D_'s teeth. They definitely
were used for ripping but they were much less blade-like.
John V Jackson jjackson@interalpha.co.uk
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