A perfectly preserved dinosaur was discovered from China. It is one of the most complete dinosaur embryos which helps one understand the links between the Asian species and birds.
Scientists are showing off a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo fossil that was preparing to hatch from its egg, much like a modern-day chicken.
The embryo fossil, nicknamed “Baby Yingliang,” was discovered in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in southern China, and is believed to be at least 66 million years old.
Researcher Dr. Fion Waisum Ma told the AFP news agency that the discovery is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history.”
According to a published study, researchers at a Chinese mining company, Yinagliang Group, found the egg fossil more than 20 years ago, but put it in storage with other fossils for 10 years.
When construction began on the company’s natural history museum, the fossil storage was sorted, and museum staff pulled the dinosaur eggs from the collection for closer examination. That’s when they noticed some bones on the broken cross section of one of the eggs.
Researchers say the egg belonged to a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur. Ma and colleagues found Baby Yingliang’s head below its body, with its feet on either side and back curled — a posture familiar in modern birds but not previously seen in dinosaurs.
Researchers believe the animal was on the verge of hatching, but it was likely preserved when it was buried by a sudden mudslide, protecting it from scavengers.
