Re: Claw function in Deinonychus

[Dino Guy Ralph <ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu>]

To determine the utility of a robotic dromaeosaur leg as a model for 
studying the capabilities of a living dromaeosaur's leg, it would be helpful 
to set up a parallel experiment that would investigate how closely the 
damage inflicted by a robotic cassowary leg would mimic the damage caused by 
a real cassowary.  I don't know if a cassowary could be provoked to lash out 
at a fresh pig or (perhaps more appropriately) a fresh croc carcass, but 
there are reports and medical records of cassowary-inflicted wounds that 
could be used for drawing comparisons.

I don't mean to imply that dromaeosaurs and cassowaries would move in the 
same way or inflict comparable wounds, but I think that such a project could 
be helpful in determining whether or not there are significant limitations 
inherent to the robotic modeling methods used to study _Deinonychus_ claw 
function.
--------
"Dino Guy" Ralph W. Miller III
Docent at the California Academy of Sciences
proud member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology