Oviraptor philoceratops 11 Egg Nest

Oviraptor philoceratops is the dinosaur which is believed to have laid these eggs. Oviraptor philoceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous (88-70 million years ago). They were first found by paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, in the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia, in 1924, and described by Henry Osborn. Originally Oviraptor eggs were thought to be those of a Protoceratops, which was one of the more abundant species from the area where they were first found. It was therefore assumed that the Oviraptor skeleton found on the nest was there stealing the Protoceratop's eggs. Thus the name Oviraptor ("egg stealer"); the name philoceratops means lover of ceratopsians. It has been determined since, that the Oviraptor laying on the nest was actually a nurturing parent, incubating its own eggs, and not an egg stealer. This was due to finding a near full term embryo in one of the eggs previously thought to belong to Protoceratops. Based on Oviraptor's curved toothless beak it has been determined to b