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Re: Oviraptor
Jaime wrote:
> All extant plant eaters, sans birds, have teeth. Birds (the best
> example to use, anyway) eat leaves and other plants by plucking with
> long, pointy bills, or shearing with smooth or serrated, thick
> bills. No double-curved billed birds (such as falconiforms,
> referring to the mandible) are herbivorous.
Hold on. Tortoises have no teeth. And I'm not sure what you mean by
double-curved, but parrots' bills are strongly curved.
> Insects and fish are also diets possible for the oviraptors, just no
> proof. The jaws are hooked bellow and cupped above, good for
> clamping onto something, especially in the little palatine teeth
> could grab into the soft innards or flesh.
Insectivorous mammals and squamates retain their teeth for crunching
exoskeletons, except for several specialised long-snouted, long-tongued
mammals. Most piscivores have many pointy teeth to give the best grip on
slippery prey, but Pteranodon is an exception. I don't expect there were
enough fish available to support the Oviraptor populations.
Oviraptor's beak looks a bit like a flamingo's. Has someone mentioned that
before, or is it my usual sense of deja vu? However, I am pretty sure that
Oviraptor did not filter feed upside down in hypersaline lakes.
All the best,
Bill