Researchers discovered a 72- to 66-million-year-old embryo inside a fossilised dinosaur egg in the rocks of Ganzhou in southern China. The discovery of an extraordinary fossil of a newborn
dinosaur curled up precisely inside its egg is giving new light on the dinosaur-bird link.
The embryo, named 'Baby Yingliang,' belongs to the oviraptorosaur family of toothless theropod dinosaurs. The dinosaur group "Oviraptorosaurs" lived in Asia and North America
during the Cretaceous period - about 145 to 66 million years ago.
"This dinosaur embryo inside its egg is one of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen," said one of the authors, Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, in
a press statement. “This little prenatal dinosaur resembles a newborn bird curled up in its egg, which is yet more evidence that many of the characteristics that distinguish today's birds originated in their dinosaur
ancestors."
The embryo was discovered inside a 17-cm-long egg, and the creature's length from head to tail is projected to be 27 cm. The specimen is currently on display at the Yingliang Stone Nature
History Museum in China. According to the research, the creature appeared to be on the verge of hatching, with its head below its body, back curled into the egg's blunt end, and feet positioned on either side.
"Dinosaur embryos are some of the rarest fossils, and most of them are incomplete with the bones dislocated," Fion Waisum Ma, joint first author and PhD researcher at the University
of Birmingham, said in a statement. "We're ecstatic about the finding of 'Baby Yingliang' since it's in excellent shape and can help us answer a lot of questions about dinosaur growth and reproduction...
Inside the egg, this dinosaur embryo and a chicken embryo both pose in a similar fashion, which could indicate similar prehatching behaviours."