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| Raptor Prey Restraint; Dromaeosaur killing technique | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 24 2012, 01:35 PM (1,851 Views) | |
| Bright Nights | Jan 24 2012, 01:35 PM Post #1 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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What do you guys think of the new "Raptor Prey Restraint" theory proposed by Fowler et al last year? It coincides remarkably to the morphology and habits of modern diurnal raptors, while closing some glaring gaps in the mystery of dromaeosaur form and function. A few posters in the old forum thought it was pretty unlikely, although I don't think they ruled it out very well. The "flapping for balance" idea got a lot of heat, but I don't think it's totally unreasonable to conclude that from the known morphology (feathers & wings). A striking similarly I read about was the parallel D-2 digit, the enlarged claw present in both diurnal raptors and dromaeosaurids. Assuming the claws are more for holding than slashing, it would make the skull a great primary weapon to shred up the prey, similar to eagles and hawks, except with razor-sharp teeth. |
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| Rodentsofunusualsize | Jan 24 2012, 02:00 PM Post #2 |
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cogcaptainduck
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I think the idea most certainly holds some importance. I'm still a little suss about the flapping, but I'm sure this Fowler fellow knows a helluva lot more than I do about droms. The holding makes a lot more sense as well, as awesome as the scene was in JP, what Grant was saying didn't make a lot of sense to me. The claw does not seem to be adapted to slicing, the shape seems to be that of a large curved hook. This also explains the bite force of Deinonychus, if it's jaws were it's main killing weapons then it explains it having such powerful jaws. |
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| Bright Nights | Jan 25 2012, 02:13 AM Post #3 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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Exactly. Even as a little boy fascinated with dinosaurs for the first time after watching Jurassic Park and its sequel countless times and visiting the library for dinosaur books, I always suspected that the jaws were the main kill weapons. Certainly not from any knowledge of killing behavior, but I thought that those claws may not have gotten the job done very well. I don't know about the hooked claw, but according to some the claw is ventrally keeled, a design that may indicate a slicing function. I can see how it makes sense for it to have a primarily "hook" function, but what to make of the ventral keeling? Are we just going to say it's a vestigial design? There's still a lot more we need to learn about dinosaurs, and I cringe a little bit now when dinosaurs with ambiguous behaviors are matched up. |
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| Sicilianu | Jan 26 2012, 02:32 AM Post #4 |
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Omnivore
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I disagree with it completely. I do not share their view of the similarity of diurnal raptors to dromaeosaurs. One big tip off is that Dromaeosaurs do not have a reversible claw. Also, the shape of the enlarged claw is quite different. Take a look: Honestly, it seems to me that the authors wanted to come up with something new just to say they came up with a novel idea. The only thing I agree with is the Troodon differentiation to feeding on smaller animals, but becoming better runners. Having said that, such an idea is not really novel. |
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