Poor, poor Oviraptor!

Some of you may or not know that I love palaeontology, so, here's the first post on this blog of me and my palaeontological... Endeavours! This post was originally posted and written by me on The Fossil Forum, which I have an account on! Without further ado, read on...

Anyone here remember in their childhood being taught that Oviraptor (egg-thief) stole dinosaurs' eggs, and ate them? Same here. As most of you will know, it turns out, this dino was no criminal, it was just trying to be a good parent, brooding over it's eggs! Here's the fossil that led to it's misidentification, after being discovered:

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons


You can see how it was speculated to have been stealing the eggs, but, based on other specimen covering their own nests, and CT scans that showed an embryonic Oviraptor inside the eggs... It was being a good momma, protecting it's young from the sandstorm that buried both it and the eggs.

So, case closed? Oviraptor, this weird birdy dino, was in fact just a good mom! No need for any further issues with it's diet and things, right?


Well, unfortunately for this creature, the original speculation has left behind quite a legacy... It only takes a quick google search to show up lots of outdated, and misinformed data on websites! My siblings, and parents, still believed it to have predated on eggs when I asked them, as well as all of my friends!


Granted, they are not well versed on the palaeo scene (peasants!), but, still, it's weird that children's books on dinos still state this to be the case. For example, from Oviraptor - Official ARK: Survival Evolved Wiki (gamepedia.com) (the wikipedia on a dinosaur game called ARK): 

The Oviraptor is a small theropod that can often be spotted by survivors wandering across the island in search of its favourite food, eggs. 

Screenshot taken from the actual UK Natural History Museum: (Oviraptor | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)):


image.png.aceaaf9d56f9cc96be7527221d4b04c9.png

Will this beautiful beastie ever leave behind it's disgraceful legacy? Maybe not, it's hard to say. Poor, poor Oviraptor!


Isaac, over and out...

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