From David Attenborough Fans

This set of 31 claws and talons allowS you to compare their size and appreciate the functional differences connected to the different behaviors in hunting and eating.

The GHO and Barn Owl are in the top row.

Are there any surprises for you in getting to compare them?

Pound for pound, the raptors have some pretty big pokey bits.

  • teft
    7•2 months ago

    You forgot the most important raptor claw. The velociraptor deinonychus:

    • NegativeNull
      7•2 months ago

      Therizinosaurus claw:

      Therizinosaurus means “Scythe Lizard”

      • anon6789OP
        4•2 months ago

        That looks like a toucan skull.

        It was scary until I read they’re just built in salad tongs!

        • NegativeNull
          7•2 months ago

          They are definitely a goofy looking bunch:

          The claws were mostly used to pull up grasses and such in marshes.

    • anon6789OP
      5•2 months ago

      Harpy eagle is 4.8 in / 12.8 cm

      Velociraptor 2.6 in / 6.5 cm

      Deinonychus 4.7 in / 12 cm based on reconstruction

      The movie and book claws and raptors themselves I believe are actually Deinonychus, which were thought to be a North American velociraptor species at the time, but that seems to have been a minority opinion. That’s why you should always find multiple sources!

      Smithsonian - You say “Velociraptor,” I say “Deinonychus”, Scientists evaluate the accuracy of raptors depicted in Jurassic Park

      This new view of dinosaurs, in part, inspired the 1988 book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World by paleo-artist Gregory S. Paul. Not only was the volume chock-full of illustrations of feathered dinosaurs, but it also attempted to revise some dinosaur taxonomy. Paul noted the similarities between the skeletons of the Velociraptor from Mongolia and the Deinonychus skeletons from North America. They were so similar, in fact, that he decided to group the Deinonychus fossils under the name Velociraptor, as the older name took precedence according to the rules by which organisms are named.

      Paleontologists did not agree with this change—Velociraptor was kept distinct from Deinonychus—but Paul’s book was a hit with the general public. And one of the people who read the book was author Michael Crichton. We know this because in the acknowledgements for his novel Jurassic Park, Crichton listed Paul as one of the people who inspired his vision for dinosaurs portrayed in the book, and he used the name Velociraptor to describe the large, sickle-clawed predators that disembowel so many humans in the fictional yarn. The same taxonomy was carried over into the film series, which ultimately made what would otherwise seem to be an abstruse scientific term a household name.

      • @Cypher
        2•2 months ago

        As a dinosaur loving kid this annoyed me so much, I knew it was Deinonychus!

        From wikipedia on Deinonychus, and yes I would quote original sources but Im on mobile.

        Crichton ultimately chose to use the name Velociraptor for these dinosaurs, rather than Deinonychus. Crichton had met with John Ostrom several times during the writing process to discuss details of the possible range of behaviors and life appearance of Deinonychus. Crichton at one point apologetically told Ostrom that he had decided to use the name Velociraptor in place of Deinonychus for his book, because he felt the former name was “more dramatic”.

        • anon6789OP
          2•2 months ago

          I didn’t think I knew about velociraptor before the book. Definitely knew Deinonychus though!

          I don’t have kids, but know plenty of people that do, and I’ve been very glad to see they’ve never gone out of style, and even some of the little girls seem to like them now too.

          VR is a much more marketable and pronounceable name, so he probably did the right thing.