Re: *Oviraptor*

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

I take it you do may support the idea of the nesting oviraptor having
the arms in the position it was found in because it was using some sort
of dinofluff on the arms to protect the eggs underneath it, as many
modern birds use wing feathers to protect their brood. 

The feather-protection does certainly seem to explain the arm position-
a naked arm in the same position doesn't do much of anything besides
getting sunburned.

-Betty Cunningham

"Jaime A. Headden" wrote:
> <As far as feathers go, they could well have had the
> display "wings" of Caudipteryx, but probably to a
> lesser extent as, one, being predators, they probably
> had naked lower arms just like vultures have naked
> necks, and two, they had very nice display structures
> in their crests, and may not have needed "wings".>
> 
>   It is not likely they had naked lower arms, as all
> preserved fossils with arm-bearing integument show
> that the feathers or feather-like structures extending
> onto the metacarpals or even to the proximal digits.
<snip> 
>   Arm bearing display structures would not have been
> bad, either.


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