What is it about?
This study investigated whether studies of shoulder joint range of motion in dinosaurs are providing reliable estimates of living range of motion.
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Why is it important?
The shoulder joint is the largest joint in the forelimb. This experiment provides a preliminary test of how soft tissues surrounding the joint (skin/scales/feathers, muscles/tendons and joint capsules/ligaments) and soft tissues within the joint (here articular cartilage) affect range of motion. A basic test such as this is needed as a starting point for further investigations of the effects of soft tissues on range of motion in dinosaurs and other fossil archosaurs. This experiment also builds upon a previous study of elbow joint range of motion in these same alligator and ostrich specimens (Hutson & Hutson, 2012), in order to begin comparing and contrasting the effects of soft tissues on range of motion in a diverse array of forelimb joints, with the goal of elucidating whether these results can be used to extrapolate living range of motion from fossil bones.
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This page is a summary of: Using the American alligator and a repeated-measures design to place constraints onin vivoshoulder joint range of motion in dinosaurs and other fossil archosaurs, Journal of Experimental Biology, September 2012, The Company of Biologists,
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.074229.
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