Check the fingers and toes of your favorite vertebrate animals and you’re likely to find claws or something similar at the ends. These digit-caps come in a variety of shapes – claws, nails, even hooves – for a variety of functions. In this episode, we discuss the close relationship between claw form and function, how we study claws in the fossil record, and the intriguing questions of how claws came to be as we know them today. In the news: swimming temnospondyls, ants and plants, Troodon eggs, and cooked snails. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:05:30Main discussion, Part 1: 00:38:15Main discussion, Part 2: 01:17:45Patron question: 01:45:45 Listen to us on I Know Dino! https://iknowdino.com/sinotyrannus-episode-437/ Will was a guest on Sprites of Life!https://open.spotify.com/episode/7KmiNQcKWgpT6Nn0FRrMMp Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures:http://commondescentpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Follow this link for a 30-day free trial to Audible!www.audibletrial.com/CommonDescent Or make a one-time donation via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/4c68u4hp Find merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Join the Common Descent Discord server! https://discord.gg/CwPBxdh9Ev Follow and Support us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPCFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcastInstagram: @commondescentpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduwPodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 You can email us at commondescentpodcast(at)gmail.comOr send us physical mail at:The Common Descent Podcast1735 W State of Franklin Rd. Ste 5 #165Johnson City, TN 37604 The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/