First soft-shelled dinosaur eggs & first egg found in Antarctica discovered

[FfFfFfFF 58,135]

A global search from the deserts of Mongolia to the highlands of Argentina has revealed the first soft-shelled dinosaur eggs ever discovered, providing a new glimpse into how dinosaurs laid their eggs and parented their young. 

The revelation comes from two teams of international researchers, who have presented stunning new fossils of ancient soft-shelled eggs as old as 200 million years. One group describes the first soft eggshells ever identified among dinosaurs, while the other presents the first fossil egg ever discovered in Antarctica—possibly from a marine reptile—which also seems to have had a soft shell.

The fossils’ mere existence, let alone the quality of their preservation, has left scientists astounded.

If Protoceratops laid soft eggs, it’d be the first dinosaur ever found with them, upending years of previous assumptions. Soft eggshells had been discovered for other ancient animals, such as dinosaurs’ distant ancestors and extinct flying reptiles called pterosaurs, but not within the clade of Dinosauria itself.

Farther south, in the rocks of Antarctica, another egg has captivated scientists—the second largest fossilized egg ever found, measuring nearly a foot long.

The 68-million-year-old egg, called Antarcticoolithus bradyi, is the first fossil egg ever found in Antarctica

“For the first egg remnant from Antarctica to be a nearly complete egg that has finely preserved microstructure is kind of insane,” says Julia Clarke of UT Austin.

Taken together, the new studies add substantially to what scientists know about dinosaur and ancient reptile reproduction.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/first-dinosaurs-laid-soft-eggs/

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

Damn...that's a huge egg 

[River 127,562]

plz plz plz have some preserved dna

I want my dino zoo

[PartySick 172,547]

I love that since their discovery, dinosaurs have gone from cold-blooded dragon type monsters to more mammalian type reptiles that nurtured young and lived in social groups. Even T-Rex, the tyrant king, was a big softy family man 

[Economy 52,861]

Did most dinosaurs lay eggs or just a few? Genuinely curious

 

I always pictured the large ones give birth like mammals