An artist s rendition of an oviraptorosaur brooding over its eggs while its partner looks on (Credit: Zhao Chuang, PNSO)
Researchers worldwide are celebrating the discovery of the fossil of an adult oviraptorosaur brooding over a nest of eggs containing unhatched babies. The unprecedented discovery confirms scientists suspicions that the two-legged bird-like dinosaurs were doting parents, which not only incubated their eggs, but also guarded them at times putting their own lives at risk. 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, says study co-leader Shundong Bi, a paleontologist at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Extraordinary Fossil Captures Nesting Oviraptor Dinosaur Alongside Unhatched Offspring
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Left: The new fossil preserving an adult oviraptorid dinosaur with eggs containing embryos. Right: Artist s interpretation of a nesting oviraptorid. (Image: Fossil: Shundong Bi; Artwork: Zhao Chuang)
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Paleontologists in China have unearthed the fossil of an oviraptorosaur sitting on a nest of eggs. By itself that’s an amazing and rare discovery, but this fossil is unique in that the eggs still preserve evidence of the unhatched progeny inside.
Fossilized dinosaur eggs have been found by paleontologists for centuries. Modern-day dinosaurs – alligators, crocodiles, snapping turtles, birds, etc. – have ben seen sitting on or near nests of eggs. It would seem logical that paleontologists would find fossilized dinosaurs sitting on nests of fossilized eggs about to hatch. Yet that has never been the case … until now.
“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. In the new specimen, the babies were almost ready to hatch, which tells us beyond a doubt that this oviraptorid had tended its nest for quite a long time. This dinosaur was a caring parent that ultimately gave its life while nurturing its young.”