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povorot β Oviraptor - Hyena Analogue 2
Published: 2009-06-29 19:12:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 13246; Favourites: 283; Downloads: 0
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Description
The redesign of this earlier bone-cracking oviraptoran. [link]I went for a skull much closer to that of Rinchenia, with the tooth-like palate projection being much closer to that of the ancestral oviraptor. On [link] ' s recommendation, these adaptable scavengers also sport a long, rough tongue, for scouring the marrow out of the previously cracked bones. The species shown here is one of the keystone species of pleistocene eurasia, playing a role very similar to the cave hyenas of our own past. These bone-cracking oviraptors developed during the pliocene, and only began to flourish as many of the more slender-snouted dromaeosaurs began to decline with their preferred prey during the harsh conditions of the ice age. The oviraptors were able to thrive in conditions that other predators could not, as they were able to fully wrest all the nutritional value from a carcass.
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Comments: 21
I reckon he could use the hooked end of the beak to seperate bone from marrow.
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I like how you made it look bigger with the fur/feathers all over its body instead of just the arms.
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I'm on a dinosaur kick right now and I keep coming back to your dino designs, this guy in particular. Love her.
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Thanks, man - I've been enjoying your work on flickr for a while now, and it's nice to know the feeling is mutual!
(Also, this is one of my favourite alternate-dino designs too.)
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Well, tyrannosaur coprolites are full of crushed bone, and tyrannosaurs do have much sturdier skull constrictions than your generic carnivorous theropod. Maybe they were so successful because of better carcass utilisation? (Take everything I say about paleontology with a grain of salt, I'm a rank amateur.)
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Don't worry - I too am a rank amateur. That could well be a factor towards their success, though...
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Thats a really cool idea. Never really thought of oviraptors being specialized bone crushers. I remember that Greg Paul's "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" mentioned that therapods were less efficient at exploiting carcasses then mammalian carnivores due to a lack of bone crushing ability. I realize that your fictional oviraptorid is meant to be a highly derived member of that group, but has anyone done a study of the mesozoic oviraptor species to see if their skulls perhaps could have generated the forces required to crunch bones?
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I'd expect not - but it is a very cool possibility, eh? What if rinchenia wasn't cracking nuts or mussels at all, and instead was, in fact, a mesozoic hyena?
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Interesting concept, making the normally piscivore or bivavevore oviraptors an analogue to a very carnivorous creature. Though how would that fare with their heavily derived jaws, and mostly-lack of cutting teeth?
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Well, the teeth-like structures are for bone-smashing, but they still sport a sharp, eagle-ish beak (like the terror birds). They'd eat with more of the pinch-tear hawk action then cutting teeth mammal action.
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Wow, I never commented on this ! Well, it's awesome, I was thinking why not include some giant predatory species on either South America or some other landmass, mirroring the terror birds of our past. I'm also going to go and suggest some small arboreal and forest floor species which specialize in cracking hard nuts and fruit, similar to our Earths own parrots and hornbills
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Yeah - I've been thinking of small, suid-like roles for the oviraptorans, especially those in the tropics. S. America has plenty of it's own cool, weird critters to start with, though. Think of the unenlagiinae, for one - uniquely weird and adaptable dromaeosaurs.
I'll have more oviraptorans up soon, though.
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Great, as for the unengaline dromeosaurs fishers are definately possibly, small vertabrate eaters known as Cockatrices, maybe even arboreal forms akin to small cats and primates (or raccoons). I can't wait to see the other oviraptorans in store as well ^_^
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An interesting concept, i also enjoy seeing reinterpretations of dinosaurs =].
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Very nice concept. The rough tongue is a very plausible idea.
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