Dinos hatched eggs less efficiently than modern birds, researchers show

What do we really know about how oviraptors, bird-like but flightless dinosaurs, hatched their eggs? Did they use ambient heat, like crocodiles, or the body heat of an adult, like birds? In a new Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution study, researchers in Taiwan examined the brooding behavior and hatching patterns of oviraptors. They also modeled heat transfer simulations of oviraptor clutches and compared hatching efficiency to that of modern birds. To do this, they experimented with an oviraptor incubator and life-size eggs.