Comments on: Balaur the stocky dragon – Velociraptor’s double-clawed Romanian cousin

By: hello kitty

hello kitty — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:57:52 +0000

Did They Have Feathers?

By: Velox

Velox — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:57:36 +0000

Would it be possible, perhaps, that the stunted finger could be the result of a genetic anomaly? I’ve seen a human hand with such a deformity where two fingers were extremely stunted, and I’ve heard tell of other animals with similar deformities. I suppose only time and more specimens will tell. It could be possible that such a stunted finger could help to reduce weight in a bulky body plan. But how cool would it be for such a deformity to have been preserved?

I seem to recall reading elsewhere that carnivorous teeth were found on that island previously, but no body. Could it be that Balaur was the owner?

I’d also be interested in knowing how effective having a second enlarged claw on each foot really could have been.

By: Zach Miller

Zach Miller — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:18:57 +0000

There’s an interesting discussion going on at Facebook between myself, Andrea Cau, and Ville Sinkhoven regarding the possibility that Balaur was more graviportal than other dromaeosaurs, it walked on all four toes, and the pubis/ischium were affected by portmortem distortion. In other words, what we might have here is a therizinosaur mimic. That would be very awesome!

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:41:22 +0000

@ Katharine – I took the translation straight from the paper

Also I love the fact that a Reddit commenter said “It’s like the Gillettiraptor. Soon, it will have 3 claws, and then 5!”

Heh. “The first claw kills close. The second claw kills closer.”

By: Katharine

Katharine — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:20:45 +0000

Oh. You mentioned an island. Yup, that’s Hateg.

By: Katharine

Katharine — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:19:27 +0000

Is this from the Hateg formation near Hunedoara?

Transylvania is just swimming in dinosaurs around there.

(by the way, Balaur bondoc translates to ‘dragon runt’. I am moderately proficient in Romanian myself.)

By: Crazyharp81602

Crazyharp81602 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:30:58 +0000

Oh, the creationists will have a heyday with that carrot remark…. even when Csiki was only kidding when he said it.

By: zackoz

zackoz — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:13:08 +0000

I take it that the slight doubt about whether Balaur was carnivorous arises because no teeth have been found?

Otherwise, the researcher’s caution (even if tongue in cheek) is a bit hard to understand.

The illustration seems to indicate no cranial material came to light.

By: JediBear

JediBear — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:54:38 +0000

The “killing claw” in question properly belongs not to the velociraptor (which was about the size of a turkey) but to Deinonychus, which Jurassic Park’s velociraptors more closely resembled (for example, we’re not absolutely *certain* Deinonychus had feathers.)

I mean, they probably did, but so far as I know, no direct evidence of feathers have been found with Deinonychus

By: Walter S. Andriuzzi

Walter S. Andriuzzi — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:26:13 +0000

“[...] around 60 million years ago”. Wouldn’t it better to say around *65* mya? Even children (well, especially children) know that dinosaurs went extinct about 65 mya. In my mind, 60 mya is already mammals age. Ah, am I pedantic