Therizinosaurs and Alverezsaurs: the Strangest Dinosaur Claws.

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This paper looked at the claws of Therizinosaurs and Alverezsaurs, two of the strangest groups of theropods. And they found some expected, and some very unexpected things.

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19th century paleontologists: anything we don't understand is Megalosaurus
21st century palentologists: anything we don't understand is a display structure

brucearthur

I bet that elephant tusks would also show a perceived 'uselessness' in such a stress simulation due to their odd shape. However, elephants use them in a multitude of ways in addition to their function as display structures. Same might be the case for Therizinosaurus claws.

ShadySheev

Therizenisaur claws always reminded me more of a machete rather than an axe or pick. (As far as function goes) It looks like they would be good at stripping greenery away from the stalk or trunk of the tree.

oldmanofthemountains

As soon as you showed the image of dozens of different claw shapes for the Alverezsaurs, my mind went immediately to bird beaks. They were using their claws in the same diverse ways that many modern birds use their beaks! Which is interesting because if they were digging into dirt or wood for insects, then they were also fulfilling a similar niche to those birds. And their claws would need to be very strong to fulfill those roles.

With those meter-long claws, they were clearly good ENOUGH or the Therizenosaurs wouldnt have been able to grow as large as they do. And also, pulling on tree branches is dramatically less stressful than digging, so maybe they didnt need strong claws. Maybe the switch to herbivory reduced the stress on thier claws and opened them up towards using them for display as well.

patreekotime

Makes you wonder how they even wiped their asses.

flaparoundfpv

This is honestly one of my favorite dinosaurs so thank you for making a video about it

hungrybaryonyx

I could see it being a display
A lot of features get exaggerated for display purposes.
Something like "don't mess with me" and "hey I'm big and healthy" ?

Maybe the claws were the features that happened to become exaggerated and it worked out so they kept getting larger.

Plus, it seemed like the animal was already pretty tall. Maybe the claws were useful for pulling on a smaller animal but were now redundant for that purpose for a much taller one.

joseSanchez-ejoh

Thanks Raptor Chatter! Such an intriguing outlier. BC great selfie too C great for adding a a better idea of actual size. Nice work!❤️

zombiedad

A major question I still have about therizinosaurus is, could the claws actually cut through some materials like flesh or plant matter, and if so how efficient? Was it like a sharp knife and cleaving through small animals or just like a dull machete with the wound being superficial to most predators regardless of size?

Rex-btrt

These are some very unique dinosaur groups, and I hope more specimens are found to help us understand them further. I do think Therizinosaurus used its claws for multiple purposes. Using them to pull on branches and vegetation as well as tugging or maybe scraping does seem likely. It may not have as much stress resistance to its relatives, but it could have had its own unique way of using them. Display does make sense for a purpose of those claws, and I am sure that must have been quite a sight. They probably could communicate with their gestures.

dinosaurfan

Finger swords for ripping and tearing, or flamboyant fake nails for display... well as my favorite math professor always said, "why not both."

brycecollins

W video honestly on one of my favorite dinosaurs, and I wish yall had a great day

kuitaranheatmorus

I didn't realize the paper didn't take into account the size of the animal, which seems like a glaring oversight. Until you mentioned that, the display reasoning sounded pretty plausible. Because oof, physical scale can really change the physics of things significantly

That and with how far of an outlier from it's kin on that durability chart... covering more variables would make their display theory stronger.

Inarode

Why don’t you get to think and make a suggestion creating YouTube Videos Shows all about the Amphicyons (Bear Dogs) on the next Raptor Chatter coming up next?!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍👍👍

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