Oviraptor

"Gotta get those eggs :)"

- Drake

The Oviraptor (o-vih-RAP-tor) is a Dinosaur in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
Very common throughout the island, Oviraptor spends its days prancing around gleefully. Similarly to the Mesopithecus, the creature flees at a rather quick pace if one gets too close or if attacked.

Appearance
The Oviraptor is a small theropod that can often be spotted by survivors wandering across the island in search of its favorite food, eggs. It sports a crest on its head, presumably to attract mates, and a beak meant for cracking eggshells open to reach the nutritious contents within.

Taming
The Oviraptor, once tamed, eats meat and will also eat the occasional dodo egg provided in a feeding trough.

Preferred Food
Similarly to the Titanoboa, the Oviraptor is tamed by feeding it eggs. However, you can tame it with both standard and fertilized eggs. Once tamed, it will eat raw meat like any other carnivore.

Heavier eggs are preferred for taming.

The Oviraptor will eat the first egg in its inventory unless there's a, , , , , or.

KO Strategy
Oviraptors are small, quick, and fragile. Their small size and high speed make them difficult to hit once attacked, so try to get it into a corner before you start firing on it. At lower levels, a may be preferable, and a  could potentially kill one in a single shot.

The best way to tame one is to it first, then either tranq or slingshot it down.

Alternatively, it can be picked up by an or  and moved somewhere safe or shot at by another player.

A tamed will be able to trap the Oviraptor by standing above it allowing you to easily knock it out.

If you have a tamed and a, you can use the Lasso to hold the Oviraptor captive and allow another player to knock it out.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Oviraptor.

General
The Oviraptor is easily killed by both ranged and melee attacks, the only problem being its speed and timidness. It will run at the first sign of contact and is very fast, so cornering the animal or using a bola to immobilize it is mandatory.

Strategy
Being a very fast and very small target, the best way to tame an Oviraptor is to use a to trap it before it flees. If you have a flying mount, it is a good idea to construct a fenced in-area, then pick up the oviraptor and drop it inside for a safe, secure tame. Even a can pick up an Oviraptor with ease.

Weaponry
Use a bola to keep it in place, then use torpor-applying tools to knock it out. Beware of its health while you do this, as it may die in the process.

Dangers
The Oviraptor is not hostile or dangerous at all, but make sure not to run into more dangerous dinos while attempting to tame an Oviraptor.

Weakness
Anything that can slow or prevent its movement.

Utility
Once tamed, setting the Oviraptor on wander will increase the production speed of unfertilized eggs in nearby tamed, mate-boosted creatures, indicated by an egg icon above all affected animals. This effect will also increase the feces laying rate on all dinos nearby (including mammals).

The radius of the speed boost for egg laying is slightly smaller than that of a feeding trough.

Contrary to a popular myth, the Oviraptor does not increase the chance for twins, triplets or mutations.

Encumbering the Oviraptor while it is wandering will still generate this effect, and is useful for effectively locking the oviraptor in place to prevent it from wandering out of the pen. Simply move it in to position, fill its inventory with heavy materials and then set it to wander.

The Oviraptor can also be used to steal eggs from wild or enemy creatures. Whistling 'attack my target' on an egg will cause the Oviraptor to pick it up and bring it back to you. Remember to be wary of the egg's weight and the fact that using this action may cause the egg's parents to become aggressive.

The Oviraptor will not collect tamed dino eggs, just increase the speed that they are produced. Remember to check every few hours for newly produced eggs, which can be made into valuable kibble for taming.

Roles

 * Egg Collector: Oviraptors can and will interact with Wyvern eggs of their own accord, but seem not to when ordered via "attack my target". Simply carry the Oviraptor to a previously scouted nest with a desired egg, having it set to "Follow" with the nearest follow settings can aid in positioning. This has the added benefit of avoiding angering every Wyvern in a large radius when you then take the egg from the Oviraptor thus leaving the player only susceptible to regular aggro circumstances which is both easier to avoid and escape.
 * Egg Production increaser: Due to its ability to increase egg rates it's quite useful when put near a breeding pair making them lay eggs faster for more kibble, tames. food or to feed to specific required tames(titanoboa for example) directly. It synergies really well with the Maewing making more types of eggs of varying quality when going for kibble Also somewhat useful on a dodo as they lay eggs more often than others for maximum extra small eggs(and their egg laying mechanics are somewhat different for unfertilized see Eggs for more details).

Notes/Trivia

 * Even though the Oviraptor eats eggs for taming, all tamed Oviraptors and baby Oviraptors eat meat.
 * It is possible to tame an Oviraptor with just Dodo Eggs; however, Taming Effectiveness will take a hit.
 * Dossier released on 07/31/2015
 * Oviraptors collect eggs from unclaimed dinos, or did as of 2/4/2018.
 * Oviraptor means "egg thief" or "egg robber" in Latin. It got this name because the first fossils of Oviraptor were found on what was believed to be a nest of eggs belonging to the small ceratopsid Protoceratops. Discoveries in the 1990s revealed that these eggs in fact belonged to Oviraptor, meaning it had died while brooding its eggs and not trying to steal them as was originally thought.
 * Also it seems Oviraptors have an innate inability to walk through standard sized door frames. If you need it in a specific room, build a large stone gate or don't put the door in until the Oviraptor is inside.
 * Before v261 the Oviraptor had no effect on Mantis and Pulmonoscorpius.
 * Oviraptor is currently (patch 294.101) the only non-native, non-Extinction creature that can be transferred into Aberration that doesn't have an aberrant variant.
 * Tamed Oviraptors can still eat eggs, but will only do so if there's nothing else available.
 * Despite having 'raptor' in its name, the Oviraptor is not closely related to other raptors, and is more closely related to troodons.
 * Oviraptors were likely omnivores in real life.