OLogy Cards > Mark Norell

What Do You Mean "Egg Thief?"
In the 1920s, paleontologists discovered many fossilized eggs that they thought belonged to Protoceratops in the Gobi Desert. So, when they found the first-known Oviraptor fossil lying on a nest of eggs, these scientists guessed it was robbing a Protoceratops nest. They imagined that this Oviraptor was killed by a sandstorm while trying to steal the eggs. Oviraptor philoceratops means "egg robber that loves ceratopians." However, in 1993, Mark Norell found a fossil egg that matched the "stolen" eggs from the 1920s. It contained a tiny oviraptorid. Now they knew that the first Oviraptor wasn't stealing Protoceratops eggs. Instead, it was protecting its own!