The fossilised remains of a dinosaur sitting on a nest of eggs, complete with embryos preserved inside, have been unearthed from China, a study has reported.

The find — a world first — is an oviraptorosaur, one of a group of bird-like, theropod dinosaurs that thrived from 130–66 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.

According to the experts, the specimen was found in 70 million-year-old rocks excavated near the railway station in Ganzhou city, in Jiangxi Province.

The adult oviraptorosaur was partially preserved brooding over the clutch of at least 24 eggs, at least seven of which contain skeletal remains of the unhatched young.

The late-stage development of the embryos allowed the palaeontologists to rule out the possibility that the adult had died while laying its eggs.

Instead, the find suggests oviraptorosaurs incubated their nests like their modern bird cousins — rather than just guarding them in the manner of a crocodile.

This was supported by oxygen isotope analyses of the eggs, which indicated that they were incubated at high temperatures just like modern birds' eggs.

'This kind of discovery — in essence fossilised behaviour — is the rarest of the rare in dinosaurs,' said paper author and vertebrate palaeontologist Matthew Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

'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,' he concluded.

Analysis of the fossil embryos revealed that, while all were well-developed, some had reached a more mature stage than others, suggesting that had they not been buried and fossilised, they would likely have hatched at slightly different times.

This characteristic — which experts dub 'asynchronous hatching' — appears to have evolved independently in oviraptorid dinosaurs and some modern birds, the researchers explained.

The team also found a cluster of pebbles preserved in the adult oviraptorid's abdominal region, which they said are gastroliths, or 'stomach stones', which would have been swallowed to help the dinosaur digest its food.

This is the first time that verified gastroliths have been found preserved in a fossilised oviraptorid and thus may lead to new insights about their diets.

'It's extraordinary to think how much biological information is captured in just this single fossil,' said vertebrate palaeontologist Xing Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

'We're going to be learning from this specimen for many years to come,' he added.

MetroBaba1:
How them take arrive at 70million years?

Golan007:


By scientific method.

How do people know there's heaven and hell?

MetroBaba1:
How them take arrive at 70million years?

Golan007:
Nigerians say it is a lie but they believe in heaven.

MetroBaba1:
How them take arrive at 70million years?

pozehnani:
70million what?? .

Is the earth even up to 7 millions years?
Lie with conscience na.

naijapips04:


Same way they arrived at the internet that is enabling you ask this mumu questions.... science.

pozehnani:
70million what?? .

Is the earth even up to 7 millions years?
Lie with conscience na.

Djamel:


the earth is far above that

possibly over 2 billions years old

she's seen it all

Djamel:


the earth is far above that

possibly over 2 billions years old

she's seen it all

Birdeyeview:
70 million years ago and one will begin to wonder when life first existed

MetroBaba1:


Comparing scientific calculation with heaven and hell doesn't and will never correlate

WestAfricaan:


But my Bible says the Earth and all creation is just 6000 years old. And the Bible doesn't lie

PAWG:
Carbon-14 is a fraud

Djamel:


the Bible didn't mention Dinosaurs?
we had them

there's proof

Uyi168:
..

Radio dating.

WestAfricaan:

My Iman is unshakable
My faith is standing tall and will not fall like the walls of Jericho
How can you say the world is over 70million years old when the Quran and Bible says 6000 years. We will not take it! Who is bank rolling you?