Dinosaur Embryos Discovered In China, Major Breakthrough Could Help Solve Dino Mysteries

A new study reveals that 190-million-year-old organic specimens from dinosaurs and their embryos, along with some of the oldest eggshells known to exist, were uncovered in China.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, are significant because it is the first time that dinosaur growth and development can be studied in-depth. 

"Our hope is that we may be able to recover collagen from these tissues in the future and do additional analyses," said study leader Robert Reisz to Discovery News.

"This would take the study of early dinosaurs to another level. Finding remnants of complex proteins in a 190-million-year-old fossil provides great promise for finding it in other extinct animals, if our targeted method is used."

The remains were found near Lufeng in Yunnan, China and were studied by Reisz and colleagues-focusing on the upper hind limb bones from 20 samples of a dinosaur that existed in the area during the Jurassic period, the Lufengosaurus.

The researchers were able to determine that the dinosaurs went through a rapid growth process and doubled in length while still inside the eggs, indicating that the Lufengosaurus had a brief incubation period.

"This suggests that dinosaurs, like modern birds, moved around inside their eggs," Reisz said.

"It represents the first evidence of such movement in a dinosaur."

Other experts in the field, like David Evans who is a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum's Department of Natural History, are excited about the dino breakthrough.

"The early life history of most dinosaurs is poorly documented, and the fossil record of dinosaur embryos is particularly scant in the Triassic and Jurassic period," he said.

"The study by Reisz and colleagues is certainly the most detailed analysis of embryonic histology and development in an early dinosaur, and it will serve as a baseline for future comparisons with other species, which will deepen our understanding of dinosaur growth and evolution."

(SOURCE)