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: News: Main discussion, Part 1: Main discussion, Part 2: Patron question: 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/7KmiNQcKWgpT6Nn0FRrMMpCheck 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/commondescentpodcastFollow this link for a 30-day free trial to Audible! www.audibletrial.com/CommonDescentOr make a one-time donation via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/4c68u4hpFind merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descentJoin the Common Descent Discord server! https://discord.gg/CwPBxdh9EvFollow and Support us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast Instagram: @commondescentpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2You can email us at commondescentpodcast(at)gmail.com Or send us physical mail at: The Common Descent Podcast 1735 W State of Franklin Rd. Ste 5 #165 Johnson City, TN 37604The 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 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/