In what is now Jiangxi Province in southern China, scientists have discovered something that would cause Alan Grant’s mouth to fall through the floor: a fossil of a non-avian dinosaur sitting on top of a nest of eggs, containing their fossil embryos stayed. The scientists say this is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found on top of its babies. And that the discovery provides a glimpse of how dinosaurs cared for their claws as they evolved into large birds.
CNN reported on the discovery, which a multinational team of researchers recently described in a paper published in the journal Science BulletinAccording to the article, recent studies have shown that many features of birds in dinosaurs evolved in stages; before the origin of the clade, Avialae, which consists of the only living dinosaurs: the birds.
Shundong Bi / Indiana University of Pennsylvania
“Dinosaurs kept on their nests are rare, and so are fossil embryos,” co-lead author, Drs. Shundong Bi of Indiana University of Pennsylvania said in a press release. “This is the first time that a non-avian dinosaur has been found sitting on a nest of eggs containing embryos, in a single spectacular specimen,” added Bi.
The researchers estimate that the fossil is 70 million years old and places it in the Cretaceous Period. (Stretching from about 145 to 66 million years ago.) It consists of an incomplete skeleton of what is likely an adult oviraptoride – that is, an omnivorous bird-like dinosaur, in the images below – in a bird-like nesting site over a clutch of about 24 eggs.
Zhao Chuang, PNSO
“This kind of discovery – essentially petrified behavior – is the rarest of the rare in dinosaurs,” added paleontologist and project researcher, Dr. Matt Lamanna, in the press release. “In the new specimen, the babies were almost ready to hatch, which tells us without a doubt that this oviraptorid has been taking care of its nest for a long time.”
The fossil not only proves the fact that this “Chicken from Hell” (yes, that’s a nickname for oviraptors) was a caring parent, but ultimately something more profound. That it clearly gave its life for its boy. As well as modern science.
Andrew McAfee / Carnegie Museum of Natural History
“It is extraordinary to consider how much biological information … is contained in this one fossil,” said Bi. “We will learn from this specimen for many years to come.”
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