These are two duck-billed dinosaur embryo fossils. They appeared in the Ganzhou basin in eastern China. One of them is amazing. It is the most complete dinosaur egg fossil to date.
The fossils date from 66 to 72 million years ago. They are now preserved at the Stone Museum of Natural History in southeastern China. The museum has named the specimens “Ying Baby,” reports the People’s Daily.
Duckbill
The egg of the specimens is an ellipsoid with a diameter of about 9 centimeters. Its total volume is about 660 milliliters. The embryo fills about 40 percent of the egg, according to the research. It was published in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution.
They analyzed the embryo’s skull, vertebrae and limb bones. The scientists inferred that it belonged to a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaurids. This is a class of large herbivorous dinosaurs. They lived at the end of the dinosaur era and were characterized by their flat, duck-like beaks.
This is not the first time such an embryo type has been found. But the Ying Baby is the best preserved ever discovered.
Small eggs
The small size of both egg and embryo implies that duckbills had small eggs. They possessed late body development. That was their primary characteristic. It is also one of the most important new pieces of information that this discovery.
In December 2021, a research team made up of scientists from China, the United Kingdom and Canada also discovered something. It was a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo fossil. It is believed to be the best dinosaur embryo specimen found to date It is now housed in the Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum.
