Citipati

What it was like

Citipati was an oviraptorid, a feathered dinosaur about 2.1 meters (7 feet) long with a short, toothless beak and a tall crest on its head, a bit like a cassowary. It had long arms with feathers and probably ate a mix of plants and small animals.

It is best known from skeletons found sitting on nests of eggs, arms spread over the clutch the way a bird broods. These fossils show that bird-like nesting behavior began in dinosaurs.

Its world

It lived about 84 to 72 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Mongolia. Its fossils come from the Djadokhta Formation, a dry land of sand dunes.

It shared that land with Velociraptor, Protoceratops, Oviraptor and the armored Pinacosaurus. Sandstorms and collapsing dunes buried many animals there quickly, which is why the fossils are so well preserved.

How it was found

Clark and colleagues named Citipati in 2001. The type species is Citipati osmolskae. Some of its nesting skeletons had first been thought to be Oviraptor.