28 Days Of Dinosauria - 25

[swordznsorcery]

Day 25: I'm very fond of Oviraptor philoceratops. The name means egg thief, because it was originally found apparently in the act of raiding a nest, of what was thought to be Protoceratops eggs. A deadly sandstorm struck, so the story went, as Oviraptor went about its thieving ways. As more specimens have been found, however, and study techniques have improved, it's become clear that Oviraptor was actually no thief at all. Far from dying in the act of raiding another dinosaur's nest, it actually died protecting its own.

From the late Cretaceous (around 75 million years ago), and from Mongolia, it was a small carnivore, very birdlike in appearance, which appears to have eaten small lizards.