Image: Oviraptor on nest 037

Description: Illustration of Oviraptor in its nest, based on fossil evidence. The first known skeleton of Oviraptor (found in the Gobi Desert in 1923), were found in association with a nest with filled with several large eggs. The discoverers thought the eggs belonged to the Protoceratops and that the skeleton found in association with them were from a bird-like dinosaur which died in the process of plundering the nest, inspiring Henry Farfield Osborn to name the new genus and species Oviraptor philoceratops ("Egg-thief that likes horned faces"). Findings in the early 1990s, however, revealed that the baked potato-shaped eggs actually belonged to Oviraptor itself, suggesting that the "egg-thief" died in the process of practicing parental care. Fossil remains also indicate that oviraptorosaurs incubated their eggs by laing on them and covering them with their forelimbs.[1] As the holotype skull of Oviraptor are crushed,[2] the exact shape of its head crest are not clear. I have restored it with the closely related Chirostenotes in mind. References ↑ Norell M.A. et.al. (1995). "A nesting dinosaur". Nature 378(6559): p. 774-776. doi.org/10.1038/378774a0 ↑ [1]
Title: Oviraptor on nest 037
Credit: Own work
Author: Conty
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