The dinosaur remains in the nest. Researchers believe sand entombed the dinosaur family while the members were still alive.
Posted on 11/20/2011 6:29:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A 70-million-year-old nest of the dinosaur Protoceratops andrewsi has been found with evidence that 15 juveniles were once inside it, according to a paper in the latest Journal of Paleontology.
While large numbers of eggs have been associated with other dinosaurs, such as the meat-eating Oviraptor or certain duck-billed hadrosaurs, finding multiple juveniles in the same dino nest is quite rare...
All were found at Djadochta Formation, Tugrikinshire, Mongolia, where it's believed sand "rapidly overwhelmed and entombed" the youngsters while they were still alive.
The researchers conclude that the 15 dinosaurs all show juvenile characteristics. These include short snouts, proportionately large eyes, and an absence of adult characteristics, such as the prominent horns and large frills associated with adults of this species. At least 10 of the 15 fossil sets are complete.
The nest and its contents imply that Protoceratops juveniles remained and grew in their nest during at least the early stages of postnatal development. The nest further implies that parental care was provided...
Yet another discovery previously found at the same locality is the famous "fighting dinosaurs" specimen in which a Protoceratops and Velociraptor appear to have been preserved together "locked in what was evidently mortal combat," Fastovsky added. Parents and other adults of the sheep-sized herbivorous species may then have spent much of their time fighting off such hungry predators.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The dinosaur remains in the nest. Researchers believe sand entombed the dinosaur family while the members were still alive.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks TheOldLady. |
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"rapidly overwhelmed and entombed"And, it's a two-list topic!
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Little bebbeh dinos ...
Wow.
Are they okay?
bttt
Looks like a rapid depositional event to me.
So do you just at water like, like for sea monkeys?
Aaaaah
I find this stuff amazing.
dino ping....
Possibly a sand dune collapse as has been suggested as a possibility for the “fighting dinosaurs” referenced in the article??
Life finds a way.
I guess even back then, they had Aid to Dependent Thugs.
“rapidly overwhelmed and entombed”
There are so many instances of such phenomena; massive concentrated collections of dinosaur bones, and the seeming trillions of trilobites, many in concentrated collections, virtually intact,undamanged, in some instances their chitinous exoskeletons preserved as such, not having undergone mineral substitution.
Its a mystery, almost enough to make one doubt the validity of the doctrine of uniformitarianism.
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