World First: Dinosaur Found on Fossilized Eggs with Babies Inside!

Scientists have made a significant discovery in Ganzhou City in China’s southern Jiangxi Province. They’ve found the remains of a dinosaur sitting on its nest of fossilized eggs.

The dinosaur, an oviraptorosaur (oviraptor), belongs to a group of bird-like theropod dinosaurs that peaked during the distant Cretaceous Period (145 to 66 million years ago). The adult oviraptor’s fossils and the embryos’ eggs have been dated to roughly 70 million years old. This is the first time researchers have found a non-avian dinosaur sitting on a nest of eggs that have been fossilized, so they still contain the babies inside!

The ~70-million-year-old fossil in question is an adult oviraptorid theropod dinosaur sitting atop a nest of its fossilized eggs. Multiple eggs (including at least three that contain embryos) are visible, as are the adult’s forearms, pelvis, hind limbs, and partial tail. ( Shandong Bi, Indiana University of Pennsylvania )

What Do the Scientists Say About the Discovery?
Dr. Shundong Bi, of the Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Palaeontology, Yunnan University, China, Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA, and lead author of the study, stated in a press release, “Dinosaurs preserved on their nests are rare, and so are fossil embryos. This is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found, sitting on a nest of eggs that preserve embryos, in a single spectacular specimen.”