Timlo.net—Researchers found fossils of a bird-like dinosaur known as an oviraptorosaur that lived during the Cretaceous Period. That period lasted between 145 and 66 million years ago. The oviraptorosaur specimens were found in the upper Cretaceous rock section some 70 million years ago.
The fossil was found in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China. What is amazing is that the fossil was found in its nest which was filled with fossil eggs with embryos in them. This is a non-bird dinosaur fossil found in the nest with a fossil egg containing the embryo in a single specimen.
The fossil is an incomplete bone of an adult oviraptorosaur that is in the incubation position of about 24 eggs. The research team said there were at least seven fossil eggs with bones or skull parts from unhatched oviraptorid embryos. The position of the fossilized adult oviraptorosaur shows the animal died while incubating or protecting the eggs, wrote Slashgear, Friday (12/3).
The researchers said their findings were rare because previously discovered fossils of oviraptorosaur eggs did not have embryos in them. Oxygen isotope analysis of the eggs confirmed that they were incubated at high temperatures.
Editor: Ranu Ario
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