The oviraptorosaur fossil was discovered from 70 million-year-old rocks in Ganzhou City, China, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) said in a January press release.
Oviraptorosaurs were part of a diverse group of feathered dinosaurs, similar to birds that lived at the time of Cretaceous, CNN reported.
“Dinosaurs trapped on their nests are very rare, so are fossil embryos. This is the first time a non-bird dinosaur has been found sitting on a nest of preserving eggs. embryos, in one amazing sample, “Shundong Bi, a researcher and CMNH professor at Indiana University in Pennsylvania, said in the news. Bi and Xing Xu, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, were leading authors of a paper announcing the discovery in the Science Bulletin.
Fossils of what is believed to be an adult oviraptorid hatching over 24 eggs or more can be seen, with at least seven preserving the bones of the partial strawberries found inside them, the researchers said in the journal .
Some of the embryos in the eggs were visible as well as “forearms, pelvis, hind limbs, and part of the adult tail,” CMNH said.
“The late stage of embryo development and the proximity of the adult to the eggs strongly indicate that the latter died by the introduction of its nest, as -couns of today’s birds, instead of laying eggs or just defending its nest crocodile. -in, as has sometimes been suggested for the few other skeletal oviraptorid found at atop nests, ”CMNH said.
This discovery revealed many details about the species, including that dinosaurs reared their children.
“Although few adult oviraptorids have been found on the nests of their eggs before, embryos have never been found inside these eggs,” said Dr. Matt Lamanna, CMNH lead dinosaur paleontologist and other researcher in the study .
“In the new sample, the babies were almost ready for birth, which tells us without a doubt that this oviraptorid had been looking at its nest for a long time,” Lamanna said. “This dinosaur was a caring parent who eventually gave his life while nurturing the youth.”
The fossil also gave researchers an insight into the diet of oviraptorosaurs, as the fossil was found by molecules – gastroliths, or “stomach stones” – in the abdominal area.
Dinosaurs would swallow the stones for a purpose to help them digest their food. This is the first time gastroliths have been detected in oviraptorids, according to CMNH.
“It’s amazing to think how much biological information will be captured in this one fossil,” Xu said. “We are going to learn from this sample for many years to come.”
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