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Thursday, May 8, 2014

T. rex claws may have been for digging, not tearing

Therapod dinosaurs—a group made famous by Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor—are generally thought of as dangerous carnivores, with sharp claws on their fingers and toes and equally sharp teeth for chowing down and tearing flesh. But a new look at the claws of other therapods shows that they could have been used for other things aside from cutting into prey.
T. rex claws
Dr. Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences focused his research on the therizinosaurs, a subgroup of therapods that lived 145 to 66 million years ago. Previous studies on the shape of their teeth and jaws suggested that unlike other therapods, therizinosaurs were herbivores. They were also quite large, reaching up to 7 meters tall and with large claws up to 90 cm long on their fingers. A close relative of modern-day birds, therizinosaurs were covered by a coast of primitive, down-like feathers and had hollow bones.

Source: Here

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