Tiny Dinosaur's Egg-Snatching Hack Revealed 67 Million Years Ago

Under the cover of darkness 67 million years ago, a dog-size dinosaur crept up to the nest of a bigger, unsuspecting contemporary. Its goal: to snatch a large egg. The tiny thief had a handy hack to get to that meal: a multitooled forelimb comprising a giant claw, two side digits and a set of spikes that were ideal for clutching the smooth surface of an egg. Researchers described this bizarre hand, and the dinosaur it belonged to, in December in the Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The team named the species Manipulonyx reshetovi.