Excitement among scholars is at its peak. A beautifully preserved dinosaur embryo, dating back at least 66 million years, was discovered in Ganzhou, China. When the discovery was announced on Tuesday, December 21, they explained that the Oviraptorosaur fossil, which the researchers dubbed “Baby Yingliang,” was preparing to emerge from its egg.
“It’s one of the best dinosaur embryos ever found.”, told AFP (AFP), Fionn Wiesom Ma, of the University of Birmingham and co-author of the study, Posted in iScience. « One of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen”Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh and a member of the research team confirms.
the sample “It looks just like a little bird wrapped in its egg.”, Determines. Little girl Yingliang was found with her back bent, her feet on either side of her head, folded in her stomach. A position not previously seen in dinosaurs, but well known in birds. When the chicks are preparing to hatch, they clamp their heads under a wing, while piercing their shells with their beaks. Embryos that fail to position themselves have a higher chance of dying from a failed hatch.
The rare, well-preserved dinosaur embryo has a bird-like posture before hatching, raising the possibility that this behavior was… https://t.co/ewpb7Jczps
Saved thanks to mud slip
This discovery “Provides further evidence that many characteristics of today’s birds derive from their dinosaur ancestors.”Mr. Brusatte explains. An alternative could be similar to that of crocodiles, which are seated with only their heads tilted on their stomachs.
Oviraptorosaurs, whose name means “egg-stealing lizard,” were feathered dinosaurs that lived in Asia and North America during the late Cretaceous period. They can have different shapes and diets, and their sizes range from monkeys to giant giants, reaching eight meters in length.
Baby Yingliang measures 27cm from head to tail and rests in a 17cm egg at the Yingliang Stone Museum of Natural History. Scientists say it is between 72 and 66 million years old, and may have been well preserved thanks to the mud slide that buried it and protected it from scavengers. It would have reached two or three meters in length if it reached adulthood, and it would have fed on plants.
This specimen was one of a set of many egg fossils, left and forgotten for years. Researchers suspected it might contain dinosaurs and scratched off part of the shell to find Baby Yingliang. The researchers hope to be able to study the fetus more precisely using imaging techniques, in order to reveal its entire skeleton.
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