Scientists discovered oldest dinosaur nests in South Africa

Scientists discovered oldest dinosaur nests in South Africa

Scientists have made a new discovery of the oldest dinosaur nests in South Africa. Fossilised eggs and tiny footprints were found at Massospondylus nesting site which is 100m years older
than any previously discovered. The findings suggest that the creatures were caring mothers early in their evolution.

The discovered clutches of fossilised eggs at the site in the Golden Gate Highlands national park, South Africa, contain many embryos. The scientists also found footprints of some hatchlings
which show that the baby dinosaurs stayed in the nest for a long time to double in size.

The uncovered fossilised nests belong to the specie Massospondylus. The members of these species are 20ft in size and are ancestor of long-necked "sauropod" dinosaurs that lived 190m years
ago. The newly discovered nesting ground, where these fossils were found, is 100m years old which is the oldest of all so far.

Approximately 34 round eggs in tightly clustered clutches were found in 10 nests. The distribution of eggs in the nests indicates that dinosaurs repeatedly laid eggs in the nests.

By the looks of the highly organised nature of the nests, it seems that the mothers may have arranged their eggs carefully after laying them. This new research has been published in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, Dr David Evans said, “Even though the fossil record of dinosaurs is extensive, we actually have very little fossil
information about their reproductive biology, particularly for early dinosaurs.”

He added, “This amazing series of 190m-year-old nests gives us the first detailed look at dinosaur reproduction early in their evolutionary history, and documents the antiquity of nesting
strategies that are only known much later in the dinosaur record.”

After the discovery of the oldest nests, the scientists are hoping that many more nests might still be hidden in the rocks which are still to be discovered.

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Posted by Zeeshan Gohar on Jan 25 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry