Advertisement

Updated December 22nd, 2021 at 16:20 IST

In China, scientists discover perfectly preserved embryo of dinosaur in Ganzhou

An embryo of a dinosaur, which is 66 million years old that was prepared to hatch from its egg was discovered by scientists in Ganzhou, China.

Reported by: Rohit Ranjan
China
Image: Twitter/@SteveBrusatte | Image:self
Advertisement

An embryo of a dinosaur that was prepared to hatch from its egg was discovered by scientists in Ganzhou, China. The embryo is speculated to be at least 66 million years old. Scientists believe that the embryo is of a toothless theropod dinosaur or oviraptorosaur, which is a feathered maniraptoran dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, as per the reports of BBC. Oviraptorosaurs, which translates as "egg thief lizards," were feathered dinosaurs that lived between 100 million and 66 million years ago in what is now Asia and North America. It has been named  Baby Yingliang by scientists.

Dr Fion Waisum Ma, who is the lead researcher, described it as the greatest dinosaur embryo ever discovered in history, according to BBC. The fossil depicts the embryo in a curled position known as "tucking," which is a behaviour found in birds just before hatching.

Most magnificent dinosaur fossils

University of Edinburgh Professor Steve Brusatte, who is a member of the research team, stated that it was one of the most magnificent dinosaur fossils he had ever seen and that the embryo was about to hatch. He shared a number of tweets describing the creature. Along with the tweet, he also shared various images depicting the posture of dinosaurs and modern-day chickens. In another tweet, he shared an image showing how the dinosaur would have looked in the egg stating, "This is part of an embryo's coordinated dance to prepare itself to break through its egg and enter the world. Tucking is essential for a successful hatch."

Steve Brusatte stated that little prenatal dinosaur looks just like a baby bird wrapped in its egg, providing more proof that many traits of today's birds first originated in their dinosaur ancestor. Because part of Baby Yingliang's body is still covered by rock, the team plans to analyse it in more depth using advanced scanning techniques to obtain a comprehensive image of the skeleton, including its skull bones, according to Al Jazeera.

Creature would have been 6.5 feet to 9.8 feet long

The scientists claim that if it had lived to adulthood, the creature would have grown to be two to three metres, which is around 6.5 feet to 9.8 feet long and would have eaten vegetation, according to Al Jazeera. The specimen was one of the numerous egg fossils that had been stored for decades and forgotten about.

Advertisement

Published December 22nd, 2021 at 16:20 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Congress Press Conference
a few seconds ago
Nvidia China chip launch
7 minutes ago
Crew
10 minutes ago
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE
14 minutes ago
Hardik Pandya and Lasith Malinga
15 minutes ago
Christopher, Wife Emma To Get British Knighthood And Damehood
22 minutes ago
Kendriya Vidyalaya Students
22 minutes ago
The tax notice sent to the Congress party pertains to the assessment years 2017 to 2021.
30 minutes ago
Tie-dye printed shirts
34 minutes ago
A case has been registered against former minister and BRS working president KTR in Hanmakonda
35 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo