'Beautiful' Dinosaur Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Egg: 'We Were Surprised,' Says Scientist
Lida Xing/iScience
A fossilized egg discovered in southern China contains one of the most complete dinosaur embryos ever discovered, researchers announced this week
In a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal iScience on Tuesday, scientists said the embryo reveals the behavorial similarities between dinosaurs and modern day birds.
The fossil contains the partial embryo of a oviraptorid, a feathered two-legged carnivore closely related to birds, according to the journal. The fossilized egg dates back to the late Cretaceous period, which took place between 72 million to 66 million years ago.
"This dinosaur embryo inside its egg is one of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen," Professor Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, who is part of the research team, said in a statement to the University of Birmingham.
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Lida Xing/iScience
"This little prenatal dinosaur looks just like a baby bird curled in its egg, which is yet more evidence that many features characteristic of today's birds first evolved in their dinosaur ancestors," Brusatte continued.
"We were surprised to see this embryo beautifully preserved inside a dinosaur egg, lying in a bird-like posture. This posture had not been recognized in non-avian dinosaurs before," Fion Waisum Ma, joint first author and Ph.D. researcher at the University of Birmingham, told CNN in a statement.
The embryo — which researchers call "Baby Yingliang" — is estimated to be 27 cm long from head to tail, and is encased in a 17-cm-long elongatoolithid egg.
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Lida Xing/iScience
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"Baby Yingliang" was discovered in 2000 after workers from a mining company discovered it in the Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in southern China, according to USA Today.
It is currently housed in the Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum in Xiamen, China.
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"Dinosaur embryos are some of the rarest fossils and most of them are incomplete with the bones dislocated," Ma said in a statement to the University of Birmingham. "We are very excited about the discovery of 'Baby Yingliang' - it is preserved in a great condition and helps us answer a lot of questions about dinosaur growth and reproduction with it."
According to CBS News, researchers plan to continuing studying the fossil and will attempt to image its anatomy.
