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

Although there are a few other examples of adult oviraptors found on their nests with eggs, this is the first time that scientists have found embryos inside the eggs. Study co-author Dr. Lamanna, a paleontologist from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, USA, explains: “This kind of discovery, in essence, fossilized behavior, is the rarest of the rare in dinosaurs. Though a few adult oviraptorids have been found on nests of their eggs before, no embryos have ever been found inside those eggs.”

Dr. Xu, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China, and one of the authors of the study, expects that this rare discovery holds a great deal of information, “It’s extraordinary to think how much biological information is captured in just this single fossil.” Dr. Xu says, “We’re going to be learning from this specimen for many years to come.”

The Fossilized Eggs were about to Hatch!
The scientists found an incomplete skeleton of an adult oviraptor with pebbles in its stomach. This is an example of gastroliths, “stomach stones,” which the creature had consumed to help it digest its food. It’s also the first example of undisputed gastroliths found in an oviraptorid, which the team believes could help provide new information about the diet of these dinosaurs.