Oviraptor, the Egg Thief

01/03/23 • 22 min

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviraptor)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Oviraptor, the most unfairly judged dinosaur found fossilized with a bunch of eggs and thus was assumed to be stealing those eggs rather than nurturing their own. There’s no way this thing could actually be a good mother, now could it? From the Late Cretaceous, this 5-foot maniraptoran theropod had a cassowary-like beak and roadrunner-like feathers, making it quite bird-like in many ways. And birds don’t eat eggs, they lay them! See, I’m a scientist. Although I’m sure some birds eat eggs, but whatever.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviraptor)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Hybodus, the Crooked Tooth

(image source: https://walkingwith.fandom.com/wiki/Hybodus)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Hybodus, a seemingly ordinary looking shark that might have actually had a temporal range of nearly 200 million years because, evolutionarily speaking, it was perfect. Sharks, man. From the Late Permian to the Late Cretaceous, this 6-foot hybodont fish had little spikes adorning its dorsal fins as its distinguishing feature, which I guess made all the difference in the world. I mean, none of the other sharks had spikes and this one did, and correlation always equals causation!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Phorusrhacos, the Wrinkle Bearer

(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/312366924155667804/)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Phorusrhacos, the last hurrah of giant land-based theropod dinosaurs as top predators, ruling well after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. That’s not funny, just cool, but then again these descriptions aren’t really funny anyway. From the Early Miocene, this 9-foot-tall bird was part of a group colloquially known as “terror birds,” which makes all the sense in the world, as I’m certainty quite terrified of this thing. Then again, I’m also terrified of chickens. Have you ever been locked in a coop with an angry chicken?! No, ‘cause then you’d be dead.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.