Deinonychus’ claws were hookers, not rippers

From Austin, Texas, at a meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Deinonychus and its relatives, a group of bipedal, meat-eating dinosaurs collectively known as raptors, gained a fearsome reputation because of the enlarged, sicklelike claw they had on each foot. Many paleontologists have presumed that the claw enabled the lithe predators to disembowel victims with a single slash, but two analyses suggest that the claws were instead used to grip and climb large prey.