Category：Fossil
Year：Late Cretaceous Period (about 84 million years ago)
Size:Length:15 x Width:9 x Height6 (cm)
Introduction："Oviraptor" is Latin for "egg taker" or "egg seizer" and is a theropod dinosaur. The first fossil specimen of this species was discovered by paleontologists in Mongolia in 1923 atop a pile of eggs belonging to protoceratops. They assumed that the oviraptor was trying to take the eggs, and from where came its name. However, after more specimens with embryos were found, it showed that the eggs probably belonged to oviraptor itself, which serves as an evidence that it was most likely trying to protect the eggs instead of stealing them. Although paleontologists expressed their discontent in Science in 1995, according to International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, once an animal has officially been named, it cannot be changed.
National Museum of Natural Science curator Dr. Cheng Yen-Nien and his international research team conducted research based on specimens from China's Jiangxi Province and published their findings and hypothesis regarding the oviraptor's reproductive mechanism in Science in 2005, which have raised much attention of the international academic communities. Among these specimens, they found the fossil of a pelvis and hind leg with eggs that had complete shells still inside the body. Comparing the pair of eggs still in the oviducts to lots of eggs lined in layers in the nest, it showed that the oviraptor probably laid one pair of eggs at a time, instead of laying a clutch of eggs all at once.
The ways in which oviraptor produced and laid eggs was evidently intermediate between crocodiles and modern birds. Crocodiles have two functional oviducts and lay a clutch of eggs in one time, while birds have only one functional oviduct and lay their eggs one at a time. This oviraptor had two oviducts, but it would only lay one egg at a time from each of the oviducts. This finding shows that the oviraptor's reproductive system possessed characteristics of "intermediate form" between early reptiles and advanced birds.
Accession Number:0009850