Continuing where I left off last week, we can see that
Citipati continues to be an animal that is often illustrated and has been studied not only for its interesting anatomy but also its peculiar behaviors. As with many of its kin the oviraptors,
Citipati was an apt nest-tender and has been discovered many on separate and independent times on, in, or around its nests. Its eggs have, likewise, been recovered on numerous occasions and have even revealed whole embryos as well as hatchlings. These embryos and newly hatched oviraptors began life little taller than the average human knee (assume your own knee is within an acceptable range and attribute height differences to variation; how unscientific of me!). The adults would have been approximately 3m long and, in natural pose, approximately 1.8m tall. Assuming that the growth of these young
Citipati was somewhat quick, perhaps even rapid, the combination of quick growth and the known brooding habits of
Citipati says an awful lot, as we saw in papers last week, about inferences made into the history of avian style brooding as it relates to and is evolved from this maniraptoran style of brooding. The nesting position is often depicted in a singular manner, and for those not aware, this looks very much like this first image. The second image is a slight alternative, but the difference in the two images is most likely a question of heating or ventilating the nest to maintain proper brooding temperature.
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