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Oviraptorosaurs were highly successful theropod dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period. They vary widely in size, with some of the largest weighing 2,425 lb (1,100 kg).). Common features include feathers, long neck, wings and beak. This non-bird dinosaur looked like a bird, resembling a modern ostrich. When nesting, these animals arrange their eggs in an almost perfect circle, laying eggs in a very regular manner.
A newly described fossil, named LDNHMF2008, was pulled from the Nanxiong Formation near the Ganzhou Railway in Jiangxi Province, southern China. These fossils date from the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 70 million years ago. He preserved the remains of a medium-sized adult oviraptorosaur, with the loss of a skull and other structural features. The animal appears to have died while in a nesting position.
These bone fossils were found alongside the “clawless claws” of at least 24 eggs, “some of which were fractured, exposing fetal bone,” the authors wrote in the study. The researchers, led by Shundong Bi of Indiana University in Pennsylvania and Cheng Shuo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, assigned eggs to fossil species. Macroolithus yaotunensis.
Oviraptorosaur nests containing many eggs at the same time are not uncommon, and it is likely that they had adapted to hunting by true “egg thieves”.
Microscopic analysis of the fossils shows that some embryos are in the late stages of development and are about to hatch. The authors take this as possible evidence that ladjuras are actively incubating their nests, not just guarding them, as some paleontologists suspect.
Matthew Lamana, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and co-author of the new study, said Current situation. “These dinosaurs were caring parents who ended up sacrificing their lives while caring for their young.”
Other evidence confirms this explanation, in particular oxygen isotope analysis which shows that eggs are incubated at high temperatures such as birds around 97 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (36 to 38 degrees Celsius). Interestingly, eggs are found at different stages of development, which means they hatch at different times. This is referred to as Hatch asynchronouslyAnd A reproductive phenomenon seen in modern birds. The authors were unable to attribute causation to asynchronous outline, but they provided a plausible scenario, as they wrote in their research:
“Like ostriches, oviraptorosaurs would start incubating the nest only after all the eggs were laid, so that the lower eggs, which had been laid earlier, would be incubated relatively for the same time period as the upper eggs. . However, the upper part of the egg may hatch earlier than the bottom egg because, being closer to the adult egg, it receives more heat from this individual than the bottom egg, so the embryo inside will develop faster. “
Finally, scientists also found a handful of pebbles in the stomach area of the dinosaurs. These stones are most likely stomach stones, which the animal swallowed to aid digestion. This is the first time such a thing has been documented in oviraptorosaurs, and possibly evidence in their diet. Indeed, that’s a lot of new insights for someone, although interesting, to explore.
“It’s incredible to think about how much biological information is being captured in this one fossil alone,” Shaw said. “We will learn from this sample for years to come.”
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