Oviraptor (name meaning "Egg Thief") is a genus of omnivorous theropod dinosaur that originated during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Asia. This omnivorous dinosaur was named so because scientists incorrectly thought it stole eggs.
In the episode, "The Giant Claw”, a pack of Oviraptors, consisting of five individuals, were rescued from Late Cretaceous Mongolia, 80 million years ago.
Facts[]
Era & Discovery[]
Oviraptor is known from the Bayn Dzak locality of the Djadokhta Formation in Mongolia, a formation that dates back to the Late Cretaceous about 71 million to 75 million years ago and was first discovered in 1924.
Physical Attributes[]
Like lots of other small theropods, Oviraptor is believed to be covered in feathers. Its parrot-like beak was used to crack open food. It had a round crest in its head which may have been used to attract mates. It was about 3.2 m (10.49 ft) in length and weighed about 90.71 kg (200 lb).
Behaviour & Traits[]
When scientists first discovered an Oviraptor fossil atop a nest of eggs in the Gobi Desert in 1923, they assumed the dinosaur was stealing them. The eggs were thought to belong to Protoceratops, a ceratopsian dinosaur found nearby, and the name “Oviraptor”—Latin for “egg thief”—was coined based on that assumption.
However, later discoveries, especially a 1993 fossil showing an Oviraptor in a brooding posture over a nest, revealed that the eggs actually belonged to the Oviraptor itself. Embryos inside the eggs matched oviraptorid anatomy, proving that the dinosaur wasn’t stealing eggs—it was protecting its own.
This finding transformed Oviraptor’s reputation from thief to devoted parent. It’s now one of the few dinosaurs with direct fossil evidence of advanced parental care, including brooding behavior that closely resembles that of modern birds.