The fighting pair themselves:

Velociraptor mongoliensis
Vs
Protoceratops [...thingumybob]

This is the museum's own photo. (I may have to take this down. AMNH - please inform me if necessary.)

This gives the best view of the veloci's slashing claw in operation (the left foot). Not only does the 2nd toe extend, but the other toes are strongly hypoflexed. Perhaps this may have been one of the main characteristic modes of operation, with the metatarsals fairly perpendicular to the surface being slashed, rather than parallel to it and the _V_ standing astride the prey and making the old-fashioned motor-bike kick-start action.

It's not terribly clear in this view, but the Veloci's left hand is not grabbing the Protoc.'s neck frill, but the back of its main lower jaw bone (jugal I am informed).

The specimen highlights the alarming degree of specialisation involved in this mode of attack, requiring both arm and slashing foot claw. Unlike a jaw bite which opposes its own forces, the hands-and-foot approach requires at least two good purchases to be made, since otherwise the toe thrust would tend to push the two animals apart, quite possibly before an adequate wound could be inflicted. (If you've ever tried to cut through animal tissue with anything other than a very sharp blade, imagine trying to cut a wound two inches deep and six long through the skin and flesh of a pig, with a blunt pen-knife. I would consider the force required as often considerably exceeding the weight of the attacker.) Perhaps the Veloci's used some kind of backwards and forwards motion as used with the old-fashioned "cut yer thumb off" pre-butterfly-type can openers. Or perhaps the claw was just for piecing rather than slashing.

If the strategy of grabbing both sides of the head of a Protoceratops was common (and presumably the _P_ would often turn to face the _V_ when caught to make good use of the beak) then the attacker would find itself pulling that beak towards its own body, while often ending up lying on the ground.

This is surely a terribly risky technique. First, in order to work at all, it is necessary to gain and maintain at least two and probably three purchases on the prey simultaneously. Then, if the hands succeed in pulling while the foot slips off, you're probably dead.

Note, the head is kept well away, since the teeth seem to have become specialised for dismemberment and are not very effective for grappling with live prey. They are often so recurved in velocirapt.s (especially Bambi.) that the front edge of the tooth presses down onto the prey instead of the tip; and if they do succeed in penetrating, a strong sideways movement of the prey would tend to twist them out of their sockets.

The forearm of the _V_ is displaced sideways by about the width of the ulna, to an extent which strongly suggests serious dislocation if it happened at the time of the encounter. In one photo I have, the proximal end of the radius appears to be broken. Didn't matter - the arm could have been bitten clean off and the _V_ would still have won on a KO.

The extraordinary degree of bowing in the ulna is a normal _V_ feature I believe.



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