Five Dinosaur Fossil Eggs Found by Chance

Construction workers have unearthed five dinosaur eggs in the city of Foshan (Guangdong Province, south-eastern China).  The eggs, preserved in red sandstone, were laid by a herbivore, but scientists are unable to identify the genera.  The eggs are quite rounded in shape and measure approximately 13-14 centimetres in diameter.  The strata dates from around 70 million years ago (Late Cretaceous) and the fossils have been taken to a local museum for safekeeping and further study.

Dinosaur Egg Fossils

A Dinosaur Egg – The Chinese Eggs were Briefly Put on Display Before Being Removed for Further Analysis

Dinosaur eggs studied by palaeontologists.

A dinosaur egg fossil. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals: Prehistoric Animals and Dinosaur Figures.

The two blocks containing the fossils were found at a depth of eight metres and Qiu Licheng from Guangdong’s Archaeological Institute in China commented:

“We found five eggs, three were destroyed, but they are still visible.  The other two have their imprints on the stone.”

Dinosaur Eggs from the Foshan Area

The discovery was made last Monday and video footage has been taken showing the construction site and the fossils that were found.  Dinosaur eggs have been found in the Foshan area before, although to find a clutch is quite significant.  Local palaeontologists are hopeful that these fossils will help to provide a clearer picture of what life was like in this part of China during the Maastrichtian faunal stage of the Late Cretaceous.

The “Red Beds” of sandstone have produced a number of dinosaur fossils, including theropods.  At least three different types of dinosaur egg fossil have been described and in some parts of southern and south-eastern China, they act almost like index fossils helping to date the relative ages of sediments.  A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that titanosaurs are known to have lived in this part of China around 70 million years ago, but the eggs are too small to be ascribed to a type of titanosaur with any confidence.  The eggs may have come from a hadrosaurid.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Share This!Pin on Pinterest0Tweet about this on TwitterEmail this to someoneShare on Facebook0Share on Google+0