For owls that are superb.
US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org
If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
This set of 31 claws and talons allowS you to compare their size and appreciate the functional differences connected to the different behaviors in hunting and eating.
The GHO and Barn Owl are in the top row.
Are there any surprises for you in getting to compare them?
Pound for pound, the raptors have some pretty big pokey bits.
You forgot the most important raptor claw. The ~~velociraptor~~ deinonychus:
Therizinosaurus claw:
Therizinosaurus means "Scythe Lizard"
That looks like a toucan skull.
It was scary until I read they're just built in salad tongs!
They are definitely a goofy looking bunch:
The claws were mostly used to pull up grasses and such in marshes.
Harpy eagle is 4.8 in / 12.8 cm
Velociraptor 2.6 in / 6.5 cm
Deinonychus 4.7 in / 12 cm based on reconstruction
The movie and book claws and raptors themselves I believe are actually Deinonychus, which were thought to be a North American velociraptor species at the time, but that seems to have been a minority opinion. That's why you should always find multiple sources!
This new view of dinosaurs, in part, inspired the 1988 book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World by paleo-artist Gregory S. Paul. Not only was the volume chock-full of illustrations of feathered dinosaurs, but it also attempted to revise some dinosaur taxonomy. Paul noted the similarities between the skeletons of the Velociraptor from Mongolia and the Deinonychus skeletons from North America. They were so similar, in fact, that he decided to group the Deinonychus fossils under the name Velociraptor, as the older name took precedence according to the rules by which organisms are named.
Paleontologists did not agree with this change—Velociraptor was kept distinct from Deinonychus—but Paul’s book was a hit with the general public. And one of the people who read the book was author Michael Crichton. We know this because in the acknowledgements for his novel Jurassic Park, Crichton listed Paul as one of the people who inspired his vision for dinosaurs portrayed in the book, and he used the name Velociraptor to describe the large, sickle-clawed predators that disembowel so many humans in the fictional yarn. The same taxonomy was carried over into the film series, which ultimately made what would otherwise seem to be an abstruse scientific term a household name.
As a dinosaur loving kid this annoyed me so much, I knew it was Deinonychus!
From wikipedia on Deinonychus, and yes I would quote original sources but Im on mobile.
Crichton ultimately chose to use the name Velociraptor for these dinosaurs, rather than Deinonychus. Crichton had met with John Ostrom several times during the writing process to discuss details of the possible range of behaviors and life appearance of Deinonychus. Crichton at one point apologetically told Ostrom that he had decided to use the name Velociraptor in place of Deinonychus for his book, because he felt the former name was "more dramatic".
I didn't think I knew about velociraptor before the book. Definitely knew Deinonychus though!
I don't have kids, but know plenty of people that do, and I've been very glad to see they've never gone out of style, and even some of the little girls seem to like them now too.
VR is a much more marketable and pronounceable name, so he probably did the right thing.