Derived Anatomy and Diet
At first glance, fossils tell you what and animal ate and how tall it was at the shoulder, but to the trained eye and to a mind able to put the pieces of a puzzle together, they can reveal much more. Fossils are the remnants of a living animal and are usually bones which are the bones are the template for a vertebrate in large part. By using the bones and understanding how the living animal's life affects the development, shape, and damages to bones within the creature, a great deal can be learned, much more than just how big it was.
Read more about this topic: Machairodontinae
Famous quotes containing the words derived, anatomy and/or diet:
“Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated—serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)