How Long Can Dinosaur Eggs Hatch? page all

KOMPAS.com – Dinosaurs reproduce by laying eggs. Some species, such as the giant long-necked sauropod, laid dozens of eggs in small nests, which they allowed to hatch on their own.

Other species, such as feathered raptors who are closely related to birds, lay fewer eggs, and actively sit in their nests to protect their eggs.

Reported from Science Daily, The study, led by a professor from Florida State University (FSU) said, generally, dinosaur eggs could hatch in between three and six months, depending on the species of dinosaur.

In an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, FSU Professor of Biological Sciences Gregory Erickson and a team of researchers break down the complex biology of these prehistoric creatures that explains how embryonic tooth records answer the question of how long dinosaurs incubated their eggs.

“Some of the biggest puzzles about dinosaurs have to do with their embryology, almost nothing is known,” says Erickson.

Also read: Why Pterodactyls Are Not Including Dinosaurs?

Scientists have long theorized that the incubation duration of dinosaurs was similar to that of birds, whose eggs hatched in a period of 11-85 days. Eggs of comparable size reptiles usually take twice as long, i.e. weeks to months.

Because dinosaur eggs were so large, some weighing up to 4 kilograms or the size of a volleyball, scientists believe that dinosaur eggs must have undergone rapid incubation.

Erickson and colleagues from the University of Calgary and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) decided to test these theories.

To do that, they accessed some rare fossils of dinosaur embryos.

“Time in the egg is an important part of development, but this earliest stage of growth is less well known because dinosaur embryos are rare,” said study co-author Darla Zelenitsky, assistant professor of geosciences at the University of Calgary.

Also read: This is the Last Dinosaur on Earth

“Embryos have the potential to tell us how dinosaurs developed and grew in the very early days and whether they were more like birds or reptiles in this respect.”

Two types of dinosaur embryos studied by researchers are those from Protoceratops and Hypacrosaurus.

Erickson and his team ran the embryonic jaws through a CT scanner to visualize tooth formation.

Then, they extracted some of the teeth for further examination under a sophisticated microscope.

The researchers found that the growth lines on the teeth indicate how long the dinosaurs lived inside the eggs.

Also read: This Fossil of the Oldest Dinosaur Ancestor from South America Reveals the Origin of Dinosaurs

“This is the line that is set as animal teeth develop,” says Erickson.

The results showed, nearly three months for the small embryo of Protoceratops and six months for the giant embryo of Hypacrosaurus.

“Dinosaur embryos are some of the best fossils in the world,” said Mark Norell, Macaulay Curator for AMNH.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers used fossil specimens collected by the American Museum’s expedition to the Gobi Desert.

Then, the fossils were observed with new technology and new ideas thus providing completely new information about dinosaurs.

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