Science News Desk – Fossils have yielded some unique information about dinosaurs that seem like the stuff of science fiction. As scientists are getting new fossils, many secrets about them are also being revealed. But no less interesting is how scientists extract unique information about dinosaurs from limited evidence such as fossils. In a recent new study, they have drawn new results by studying dinosaur claws, which are somewhat shocking. It has been learned that dinosaurs used their claws for many purposes.
claws are useful
Anyway, claws are very useful for any animal, the most important of which is hunting. A team of researchers from the University of Bristol and The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing has shown that many dinosaurs used claws only for show.
Dinosaurs used to dig the ground too
The study found that along with many other tasks, dinosaurs also used their claws to dig the ground. The study focused on two types of theropod dinosaurs, namely Alvarezosaurus and Therizinosaurus. Scientists wanted to reveal the secret of the special claws of these dinosaurs.
separate claws
Investigation revealed that Alvarezosaurus, which appears to have been able to pick up stones, had claws used for digging, while its close relative, the giant Therizinosaurus, had much larger claws that looked more like a sickle. Zichuan Qin, PhD student at the University of Bristol and IVPP and lead author of the study, used a new computerized biomechanic method.
how did you study
Through this technique, Quinn compared the claws of dinosaurs with the claws of many living animals and found out the function of these claws of dinosaurs. They made a model of the claw and performed a three-dimensional CT scan, and then re-modeled it according to pressure and stress by engineering methods, and then compared the claw with claws of known animals for pulling, burying, digging holes.
tall but not strong
Researchers say that dinosaurs of both groups are very strange relatives. Alvarezosaurus is known as the thinnest dinosaur but Theringinosaurus is the opposite but their claws were sickle shaped, but even these long thin claws were enough to eliminate Giganotosaurus. Because these claws could not bear much pressure.
also to attract mates
Not all Theringinosaurus claws were useless for fighting, but many relatives used the claws to burrow into trees. Research has shown that large claws are mechanically useless in any animal, so large claws may have been used to attract mates or for display. Alvarezsaurus used to dig the ground with its claws and ate ants and termites. They were the thinnest dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous period. Whereas Alvarezsaurus like Haplochirus could not dig well into the Jurassic period. Modern science and technology may not be able to bring back the dinosaurs, but they can certainly tell us how they lived.