Dromaeosaurs are Terrestrial Hawks

Denver Fowler and colleagues have just published a series of papers dealing with the reconstruction of predatory behavior as indicated by the proportions, curvature, and anatomy of the pes in theropod dinosaurs. They began this study investigating birds, and the range of ecology and behavior exhibited by a variety of birds. Then they expanded this to that ever-curious group, dromaeosaurs. That is the topic of the current paper, by Denver Fowler, Elizabeth Freedman, John Scannella and Robert Kambic, who describe the pedal anatomy of Deinonychus antirrhopus in relation to its possible predatory capabilities, including the premises of previous authors who’ve inferred the foot was used in climbing (including up the sides of very, very large prey).

Incredulous Teeth, II: The Many Similar Teeth of Zanabazar

Zanabazar junior is a troodontid, named for famed Mongolian Öndör Geγeen Zanabazar (Өндөр Гэгээн Занабазар), an icon who brought Buddhism to the Mongols from the north from China. The name is translated from Mongolian as “known-vigor” and is derived from the Sanskrit Jnana-vajra, which means “thunderbolt of wisdom.” How peculiar that this is a name given to a “brainy” troodontid, animals known for their legginess and apparent adeptness at running down hatchling Maiasaura (and little else). But what is most peculiar about it is not that it is among the largest of troodontids, but that most if not all of its teeth were essentially homodont, or having the same morphology as one another.

Tooth Denticles — WP#5 (Update)

A few weeks ago, I posted this image:

And I asked this question:

“One of these is NOT a theropod dinosaur. Can you guess which is which?”

After a few weeks, I’m closing this gripping debate:

Troodontid Teeth – WP#6

A small selection of troodontid theropod teeth is presented below. Before you get to it, however, note that for among some of these taxa, their identities are a little shaky. This has a lot to do with one of the more persistent “wastebasket” taxa among theropods, Paronychodon lacustris [1]. Among other tooth-based taxa, Paronychodon lacustris and Paronychodon sp. (a general container for a large variety of things, several of which may be unique taxa on their own) includes the morphology of triangular theropod teeth with vertical ridges. Aberrant ridges, carinae, and the apparent absence of denticles in some otherwise theropodan teeth appear on occasion in collections, and most, if not all, of them are referred to the taxon Paronychodon in one of several ways, which I will get into in a different post dedicated to the taxonomy of taxonomy (you heard me).