Oviraptor

Say it: OH-vih-rap-tor

Name means: “egg thief”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOdd feathered dinosLate Cretaceous

Oviraptor was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived in the Gobi Desert. It had a strong beak like a parrot and no teeth. For a long time people thought it stole eggs, but now we know it was actually a caring parent.1 2

Lived

90 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia and Kazakhstan3 1

Food

A bit of everything2 1

Length

1.6 to 2 m1 2

estimate based on the only known skeleton

Weight

20 kg to 40 kg1 2

Artist's life restoration of Oviraptor — How Oviraptor may have looked, by PaleoNeolitic. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Oviraptor had no teeth. Instead it used a horny beak to crush its food.2

The first Oviraptor fossil was found lying on top of a nest of eggs. Scientists thought it was stealing them, but later they realized it was probably protecting its own eggs.1

Oviraptor was covered in feathers. Its tail ended in a pygostyle, a bone that supported a fan of feathers.1

Oviraptor lived about 75 to 71 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

Its arms were long and ended in three fingers with curved claws.1

The name Oviraptor means 'egg thief' because the first fossil was found with eggs. But scientists now think it was a good parent, not a thief.1

Myth buster

Myth: Oviraptor stole and ate the eggs of other dinosaurs.

Truth: The Oviraptor fossil was found on a nest, but it was probably sitting on its own eggs to keep them warm, like a bird. It likely ate plants, fruits, and small animals, not eggs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Oviraptor
Named by: Osborn 19243
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Oviraptoridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria3
Age of the rocks: 90 to 72 million years (Coniacian to Campanian)3
Rock formations: Djadokhta, Dabrazhin3
Countries: Mongolia, Kazakhstan3
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Oviraptor was discovered in 1923 in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia during an expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews. It was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly what Oviraptor ate. Its strong beak could crush hard objects, but whether it mainly ate plants, eggs, or shellfish is still debated.2 1

Where the facts come from

Oviraptor (en.wikipedia.org)
Oviraptor | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Oviraptor in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.