Donmai

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AlsoSprachOdin said:

What's that, a dodo dinosaur? I know it says velociraptor, but it sure doesn't look like it. Velociraptors are supposed to have forelegs/arms with claw, so this would at best be an devolved evolution.

No, that's just a scientifically correct velociraptor, their claws were covered by their wings.

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    Spookyonyx said:

    No, that's just a scientifically correct velociraptor, their claws were covered by their wings.

    But now the arms are the complete other way around, did the archeologists get it that wrong when I was a kid and interested in these things? And then how are you supposed to use your claws like that when hunting?

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    AlsoSprachOdin said:

    But now the arms are the complete other way around, did the archeologists get it that wrong when I was a kid and interested in these things? And then how are you supposed to use your claws like that when hunting?

    To be fair most theropod dinosaurs obviously fed using their legs to immobile their prey and just took bites out of them. The only one I think used their "arms" more often than the others was the Spinosaur since it was most likely a partial quadruped

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    X-Sam said:

    Even the Jurassic Park Velociraptors had pathetically tiny arms and claws to be honest. iirc, the main way that's theorized on how they hunted was their mouth and their clawed feet being used to tear into downed prey. A lot of raptors tend to have a much larger nail on their feet compared to the others that's theorized to be the thing used to rip.

    Just because their arms looked tin doesn't mean they were weak. Paleontologists discovered that the T-Rex's arms were hella strong despite of their short length

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    AlsoSprachOdin said:

    But now the arms are the complete other way around, did the archeologists get it that wrong when I was a kid and interested in these things? And then how are you supposed to use your claws like that when hunting?

    Apparently these critters mostly hunted things smaller than themselves. Plus, even with inwardly facing arms, the creature still could use them to grasp things in front and below itself. IIRC the current popular theory for how small dromaeosaurids would eat is still this.

    Raptor feeding mechanics

    (A) grasping foot holds on to prey. (B) hypertrophied D-II claw used as anchor to maintain grip on large prey. (C) predator's bodyweight pins down victim. (D) beam-like tail aids balance. (E) low-carried metatarsus helps restrain victim. (F) “stability flapping” used to maintain position on top of prey (see Supporting Information Videos S1 and S2). (G) arms encircle prey (“mantling”), restricting escape route. (H) head reaches down between feet, tearing off strips of flesh (may explain unusual deinonychosaurian dental morphology). Victim is eaten alive or dies of organ failure.

    Sources used:
    Feathered Predators: The Role of Plumage in the Hunting Tactics of Velociraptor https://www.jscimedcentral.com/public/assets/articles/cell-8-1027.pdf
    The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychus and the Origin of Flapping in Birds https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3237572/

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    AlsoSprachOdin said:

    Really? I'd think a club would in fact be quicker and quieter. And wouldn't rely on hitting the heart.

    A club is quite big, long, cumbersome, heavy and requires lots of strength to be lethal. You want to unalive the enemy, not knock them out.

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    Kronnang_Dunn said:

    A club is quite big, long, cumbersome, heavy and requires lots of strength to be lethal.

    Not necessarily, just give it a good steel head with flanges. Sure you may have to hit multiple times to be sure they're dead, but knocking them out by the first hit will ensure they don't get to screaming and alerting their colleagues.

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