Word: oviraptor
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Dates: during 1993-1993
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...because the canal running through them varies in size according to the number of nerve fibers it contains, and that in turn depends on how much the muscles controlled by these nerves are used. Giffin is trying to determine whether theropods -- the dinosaurian suborder that includes fierce predators like Oviraptor, Deinonychus, Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus rex -- could have used their undersize forelimbs for grasping or whether the arms were purely vestigial...
...China's leading paleontologist, Dong Zhiming, believes some meat eaters too may have been caring parents. In fact, he takes the contrarian view that Oviraptor, a toothless predator whose very name means egg stealer, is the victim of a bum rap. The sharp-clawed creature has been found in close proximity to nests not because it was poised to devour unhatched babies but because "it was the mother and was protecting them," says Dong...