Pointed vs Rounded Snouts?

Fathom

Velociraptor has pointed snout. Deinonychus rounded. Deinonychus same family tree. What's adaptive advantage?

Capt'n Midnight

Didn't Darwin do a thing about finches a while back ?


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31425720

They did a particular comparison of two pointed-beak species and two blunt-beak species. Differences in one specific gene, called ALX1, were associated not only with beak differences between species, but also differences within one species: the medium ground finch, which has previously shown rapid beak changes in response to drought.

...
However, he emphasised that this does not mean ALX1 - a gene also linked to facial defects in humans - controls beak shape on its own.

"There are multiple genes that contribute. But we think that ALX1 is one of the most important, if not the most important factor that has changed on the island."

Usually the difference is to do with food, like with rhinos. The shape of the crocodile mouth has evolved many times for, like with Baryonyx

Fathom

Perhaps chance? Differential reproduction. Random variation. Results in survival advantage?

Adam Khor

Two things to keep in mind; Deinonychus was a considerably larger animal, and probably handled bigger prey too; the rounder, deeper jaws would probably give it a powerful bite (indeed there's studies suggesting it could bite as hard as a modern day crocodile or alligator, which is pretty impressive for an animal that probably didn´t weigh much more than a man). Usually animals with more slender jaws have weaker bites. So obviously, Velociraptor and Deinonychus were doing different things- that's why they have different equipment.

Also, they lived many million years apart, so they're not necessarily very closely related (certainly not as closely related as Darwin's finches), despite being classified in the same family.