WASHINGTON, KOMPAS.TV – Scientists in China on Tuesday (12/21/2021) announced the discovery of a very well-preserved dinosaur embryo from at least 66 million years ago.
Launch France24, Wednesday (22/12), the embryo is preparing to hatch from the egg like a chicken.
The fossil found in Ganzhou, South China, came from a dinosaur theropoda toothless, or Oviraptorosaur, which the researchers dubbed ‘Baby Yingliang’.
“This is one of the best dinosaur embryos ever found in history,” said University of Birmingham researcher Fion Waisum Ma, who co-authored the paper in the journal iScience. France24.
Ma and colleagues found Baby Yingliang’s head beneath its body, with legs on either side and an arched back, a posture not previously seen in dinosaurs, but similar to that of modern birds.
In birds, this behavior is controlled by the central nervous system and is called ‘(head) tucking’.
Chicks preparing to hatch tuck their heads under their right wing to stabilize the head as they crack the shell with their beaks.
Embryos that fail to tuck their heads under the wings have a higher chance of dying from failing to hatch.
“This suggests that such behavior in modern birds first evolved and descended from their dinosaur ancestors,” Ma said.
An alternative to tucking might be something closer to what is seen in modern crocodiles, which assume a sitting position with their head bent at the chest until they hatch.
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