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povorot โ Oviraptor Hyena-Analogue
Published: 2009-03-09 07:39:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 8723; Favourites: 147; Downloads: 0
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Description
An idea I had about an oviraptoran hyena analogue. Instead of using that robust beak for smashing clams open, it would be a bone-crusher. With the hooked ends of the beak to tear flesh and the solid shears at the rear reinforced by a sturdy palate, they'd be cooperative hunters and scavengers, exploiting the resources left by the less efficient dromaeosaurs. Their evolution would mirror that of bone-crushing hyenas as the cleaner teams of the saber-toothed cats. When hunting live prey, the hooked ends of the beak would act similarly to fangs in a felid, as grip for the killing throat-bite.(note - this is not the final version)
Thoughts? I'm thinking about oviraptors for the world right now...
Update - I've re-done this design, which can be found here [link] .
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Comments: 23
This is brilliant. I might advise some decorative feather structures on the dominant sex. Or making one larger than the other. Like both many predatory birds and hyenas.
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Would this scavenger's head be naked, like a vultures, to keep blood and gore from matting up its face? Or maybe the opposite, useless thick stiff bristles to collect it as a macabre display?
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I think the beak looks utterly plausible for the role you've got in mind. I'd probably make it so the lower beak could go fully up inside the upper so it closes all the way, but I don't know that I've got a good reason for that. Prevent stuff (weather blown detritus, etc) from getting into the throat, or at least the back of the mouth, maybe. But it looks cool as is, for sure.
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Cool, I also had the idea of Oviraptor as a predator and scavenger with bone-crushing jaws. I even invented a giant Oviraptorid that could replace the ecological niche of Tyrannosaurs after these died out. At that time I didnยดt know about the existence of the Mesozoic Gigantoraptor...
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How about a long, rough tongue for sticking down into long lones and scouring out marrow?
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Brilliant. This guy was in need of some refining, too - a woodpecker/cat tongue perfectly ties it all together.
THanks, man!
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I was thinking of using a picture from africa's predators around a kill, only then with velociraptors as jackals, oviraptors as hyena's and a tarbosaurus as a lion
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I like the idea of Oviraptors using those bone crushing beaks to eat carrion but also to hunt from time to time. But they we're bigger than Velociraptors, maybe they used to scare away smaller Velociraptor packs in order to avoid competition.
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Very beautiful species. I love what I see thus far. I'd recommend some sort of coloring that might be intimidating to other predators that way scaring off competitors may be a bit easier.
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Thanks, man.
I was actually thinking of a very drab colour scheme - their main way of scaring off predators would probably involve either shows of numbers, some sort of hissing/open-mouthed threat display, or maybe just straight-up bodily assault. Frightening colour schemes could backfire for them when hunting live prey on the steppes.
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simply beautiful. awesome stye of work.
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I'd suggest a naked head and possibly neck. Unless you have hair of their heads instead. For cleanliness purposes anyway.
Awesome idea by the way. They look pretty cute too for bone crunchers.
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This one will only have a naked face - those living in the warmth of Africa/Middle East can afford naked heads/necks, but the individuals living in Eurasia/N America would probably not be able to afford the heat loss, and so would either have very short facial fuzz or a comparatively small area of exposed skin.
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I forgot about climate.
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That creature is so amazing. Your artistic skills are quite evolved. I wish I could draw as good as you!
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Its an interesting idea, as oviraptors were likely the dinosaurian answer to bears, and thus omnivores with carnivorous tendencies
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Yeah, exactly! I figure a few might have adapted to a more active hunter role, though. With the oviraptors, I think I'd like to do a few more designs, like tropical forest-floor frugivores and boreal forest omnivores. That beak suggests a lot of dietary flexibility to me, and thusly a lot of potential for speciation.
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Just remember that, in the late Cretaceous, there were two families of oviraptors: Oviraptoridae and Avimimidae. Both were omnivores, but the first were more carnivorous and the later more herbivorous
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Man, thanks. I actually didn't know much about avimimus - they would be great as dominant herbivores for the paleogene, at least, as I think they'd be best suited to immediately step into the main herbivore role after the extinction...
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