Walter Hingley sends word of new theories coming out the Museum of the Rockies about the ever- closer similarities becoming apparent between raptorial dinos and modern raptors.
The illo is lurid but wonderful:
Of course some of us have always thought so, notably John McLoughlin. "Washington and Moscow..."
UPDATE:
Quote is from McL's 1983 (!) The Helix and the Sword. The tyrant of a post- apocalyptic civilization has a pair of "reconstituted" Deinonychids described as follows:
"...the Sisters found the tale of the Dinosauria, a lost race of bird-like beings that inhabited dread Earth long before the advent of human beings...they learned of the Deinonychid, a beast that walked on two legs like a bird but that possessed, in place of wings, terrible, three-fingered taloned hands... within the inmost recessed of the mammalian mind... survives an ancient racial memory, a black fear of the bird-beast Dinosauria. Knowing this, the Sisterhood grew for Lothar IV two twin Deinonychids...
"Man-high, smooth-coated with short blackly iridescent feathers, red of eye and each wearing a diamond-studded Regency orange collar, Washington and Moscow were delivered to Lothar IV by the Sisterhood."
And the names? They are from an ancient document about the destruction of civilization:
"Washington and Moscow have come to blows at last, and with them all of earth must die...for the talons of these beasts are steel and their breath Death itself."
UPDATE (by Matt):
I wondered when the notion of the velociraptor "killing talon" use might be equated to modern birds of prey. I was never able to see how the slashing theory made sense, given how well hawks use their feet (grasping, not slashing) and how similar the anatomy looks. Incedentally, the common depiction of the dino's inner talon being hinged upward never made sense to me either, but I assume the educated folks know this was so, and why?
As to the above article's mention that modern raptors "flap" to keep prey beneath them, they do---but not constantly. Flapping to maintain upright posture is common when the prey is still struggling, but once subdued (and certainly once killed) the hawk's wings and tail become three parts of a tripod and simply provide leverage for tearing.
An additional feature of the spread wings and tail (a posture falconers know as "mantling") is that it hides the prey. I can see dino feathers serving both needs, the stabilization and the obfuscation, without ever needing to have developed flight.
Here's a video of my Harris from yesterday to illustrate, tearing meat from a fresh kill.
(Neutrino Cannon says: "Avian phylogeny, when studied long enough, will tempt you to mix headache medication and alcohol.")
9 comments:
I notice more similarities with existing parrots, especially the 2Madagascar Vasas than with raptors. Also the real living connection with prehistory is the Hoazin, that has real digits with claws on the wings but defies some theories being an arborean and vegetarian specie.
Steve I updated this post today. Thanks for sharing the article!
Great addition!
I'd seen the idea that the inner claw on dromaeosaurs was for tree climbing of all things. The toe claw would be used something like a crampon while the forearms would bear-hug the tree (keeping in mind that theropods couldn't pronate their hands).
This explanation doesn't particularly make sense for the really huge genera like achillobator and utahraptor.
Aha:
http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2007/10/at_long_last_dromeosaur_tracks.php
The idea that dromaeosaurs were holding their inner claws up off the ground is apparently confirmed by trackway evidence.
I will only remind you of your own quote...
Steve: which quote?
Neutrino: great find in reference! I guess now we know.
But reading the slashing hypothesis brings to mind pack hunting Harris hawks, which as mentioned do not slash but rather bind (or try to) and hold the animal while eating it.
I say "try to" because I think it higlights a possible weakness of the slashing hypothesis: prey animals do not like to be killed and they are generally successful in avoiding it, even after first contact with a predator. It's a mighty struggle for life and the prey, unless overmatched, doesn't stop fighting to escape after first contact. To slash and then retreat would require the predator to chase and likely lose the prey to another predator (or simply to the wild) and expend energy in further pursuit.
When a hawk hunts and makes contact, it aims to hold on. Cats large and small do the same. Dogs might be said to employ an "advance/retreat" strategy in large prey, but I get the impression they would drag down and start eating large animals faster if they could.
Slashing might work for venomous predators (komodos are semi-venomous, evidently?), which is sort of an interesting twist to imagine in hunting dinos...
Quote is from McL's 1983 (!) The Helix and the Sword. The tyrant of a post- apocalyptic civilization has a pair of "reconstituted" Deinonychids described as follows:
"...the Sisters found the tale of the Dinosauria, a lost race of bird-like beings that inhabited dread Earth long before the advent of human beings...they learned of the Deinonychid, a beast that walked on two legs like a bird but that possessed, in place of wings, terrible, three-fingered taloned hands... within the inmost recessed of the mammalian mind... survives an ancient racial memory, a black fear of the bird-beast Dinosauria. Knowing this, the Sisterhood grew for Lothar IV two twin Deinonychids...
"Man-high, smooth-coated with short blackly iridescent feathers, red of eye and each wearing a diamond-studded Regency orange collar, Washington and Moscow were delivered to Lothar IV by the Sisterhood."
And the names? They are from an ancient document about the destruction of civilization:
"Washington and Moscow have come to blows at last, and with them all of earth must die...for the talons of these beasts are steel and their breath Death itself."
Scary stuff.
PS I think there is evidence of venom in some dinos though not the one in Jurassic Park. I wonder if the whole world's fauna was once as toxic as Australia's...
I agree; slashing seems off if you've got the prey immobilized. If the parallel evolution of sabre-shaped canine teeth in cats, nimravids, creodonts and therapsids, to say nothing of the Roman gladius teaches anything it's that if you want something dead fast stabbing works better than slashing. It's fairly easy to miss any of the important organs when inflicting superficial, lengthwise wounds.
Slashing I could see for a pursuit predator; something like how canids will bite at fleeing prey animals to compound exhaustion with blood loss. If the prey is pinned and making mighty efforts to throw its tormentors off, something that kills it sooner rather than later would be in order IMO.
It's probably worth keeping in mind that dromaeosaurs were around for 80+ million years and ranged from crow to tiger mass. Some were flight-capable. They probably weren't all doing the same thing.
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