Re: UNCINATES, FIGHTING RAPTORS, DEEP TROUBLE...

[Bill Adlam <bill.adlam@st-peters.oxford.ac.uk>]

On Tue, 16 May 1995 DragonFyr@aol.com wrote:
> Just a thought, however misdirected it may be.....but this piece conjures up
> a vivid picture of a parasitic relationship.  Why wouldn't the oviraptorid
> lay an egg or three of it's own in the nest?  Ready source of food....esp if
> the raptor eggs hatched more quickly than the others or slightly more slowly
> since the raptor young probably would be fairly self sufficient at birth. And
> if the raptors were omniverous the host parents would even bring them food
> (bugs and vegetation) much like the relationship between the Cuckoo and its
> host parents with the difference that instead of pushing the nestlings out of
> the nest to die they would be eaten instead.

Isn't it more likely (no, less unlikely) that the baby raptor fed only on its
nestmates?  By the time it had killed the last one it would probably be big 
enough for independent life.
                                                                Bill Adlam