Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China
Scientists announced that they have found an egg with a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo in the city of Ganzhou in southern China. According to researchers, it is at least 66 million years old.
It is believed to be a toothless theropod dinosaur or an oviraptorosaurus. Researcher Dr. Fion Weissum Ma said it was “the best dinosaur embryo ever discovered.”
The discovery also gave researchers a better understanding of the relationship between dinosaurs and modern birds. Fossils show that the embryo was in a folded position, which is observed in birds shortly before the hatching.
Oviraptorosaurs, or “egg-stealing lizards,” were feathered dinosaurs which lived on territory of modern Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous, 100 to 66 million years ago.
The dinosaur found was named Baby Yingliang. It is 27 cm (10.6 inches) long from head to tail and lies in an egg 6.7 inches long.
Jurassic Park when?
Not soon. While the idea to clone and breed alive dinosaurs looks attractive and doable with the modern genetic technologies available, there are many obstacles which render such a process impossible – at least, on the same scale and form it was done in the movie. Yet, this find definitely can shed lots of light to what humanity knows about the bygone era of dinosaurs.
Source: Live Science and BBC. For more science news, peek here.
