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Large Trove Of Dino Eggs And Embyros Discovered

Posted by timothy on from the soft-yolks-ruled-out dept.

Masem writes: "CNN is reporting that a large number of unhatched and partially broken dino eggs have been discovered in Argentina. The eggs are from titanosaurs, most likely fossilized by mud in an overflowing river shortly before the eggs were to hatch, thus leading to good preservation of the embyros. This is the first opportunity for scientists to investigate the infancy of dinosaur growth."

16 comments

  1. Look at the egg size. by mfarah · · Score: 2

    This drew my attention:

    Chiappe says the eggs were about the size of softballs, [...]

    Proportionally to the adult size, birds' eggs are bigger. OTOH, fish's eggs are smaller. Is it just me, or the relative size of the egg has grown in the evolution of egg-laying animals?

    --
    "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
    - Sledge Hammer
    1. Re:Look at the egg size. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There must be practical limits on the maximum size of an egg, though... the baby creature needs to be able to break out which limits the thickness, which in turn would limit the size if it's not going to become overly fragile. Of course a longer growth period within the egg would result in stronger babies, but I'm sure all the factors come together at some point.

      Assuming that's the case, and given the fairly massive adult size of these dinosaurs, it's natural that the relative size of adult to egg is much greater when compared with much smaller creatures such as birds.

      Having said that, those eggs probably aren't much bigger than a Kiwi egg (which has the largest egg size compared to body size among birds) so there's probably something in what you're saying :)

      Probably reptile eggs and bird eggs tend to differ like that.

    2. Re:Look at the egg size. by ianchaos · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is one more thing to take into account when looking at the adult and the size of the eggs laid, and that is the number of eggs laid at once. While an ostrich will lay up to 10 eggs each with an average size of 3.3 pounds whereas an alligator will lay about 45 eggs in one sitting each about the size of a golf ball. There is a dinosaur egg in the American Museum of Natural History in New York that's about the size of basketball. There is no idea what dinosaur it comes from or how many eggs it laid at one time though. Egg to adult size ratio has to take into account whether the adult will be taking care of the eggs during incubation which can be viewed as a way of increasing the survival average and thus fewer eggs need to be laid. Reptiles tend not to monitor the progress of their young and often lay a large # of eggs to increase the chances of the overall survival of the species. Although there are always exceptions to the rule some have seen potential evidence that the diplodocus, who were believed to be herd animals, did stay with the eggs until they hatched.

      --
      What can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.
    3. Re:Look at the egg size. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always thought eggs came from the dairy section.

      Curiouser and curiouser...

    4. Re:Look at the egg size. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Similar reasoning leads to the functional limit on penis size: so big that an erection requires so much blood that the owner faints before he can wield it.

    5. Re:Look at the egg size. by Tardigrade · · Score: 1

      Fish eggs need less protection in their liquid environment?

  2. ABC news link by N3P1u5U17r4 · · Score: 0

    http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/d inoeggs981117.html

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    You're Just Jealous Because The Voices Are Talking To Me.
  3. Jurassic Park? by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 1

    The eggs are from titanosaurs, most likely fossilized by mud in an overflowing river shortly before the eggs were to hatch, thus leading to good preservation of the embyros.

    Can anyone say Jurassic Park?

    D.

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    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
    1. Re:Jurassic Park? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "eggs" are just fossils, i.e. lumps of rock.

    2. Re:Jurassic Park? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...one of the worst movies I ever saw

  4. We must sequence embryos DNA right away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that the sequencing of human DNA is complete the scientists are looking for new candidates for larger scale sequencing projects.
    Sequencing dino's DNA can answer many questions about our origins. Does it also has noncoding areas ? Does it contain retroviruses' DNA ?

    I'd say go for it !

    1. Re:We must sequence embryos DNA right away by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not just incubate them and just let them hatch? The trouble is that in any case, the eggs are fossilized. It's turn to rock. No DNA strands. But I think it would be cool to sequence the DNA if it were possible.

  5. Hrmmmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they should really learn from jurassic park

  6. Dino Eggs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    ...and they will live again, in the future, thanks
    to Timemaster Tim!

    Damn but that was a great game.