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AnonymousInactiveBird-like eggs found inside dinosaur
Rare fossil discovery offers clues to evolutionWASHINGTON – The
rare discovery of eggs inside a dinosaur has given scientists new clues about
the reproductive biology of the creatures and more support for the theory that
birds came from dinosaurs.The pair of shelled
eggs is the first of its kind found inside a dinosaur, said researchers who
reported the discovery in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.Scientists found
the dinosaur produced eggs in some ways like a crocodile and in other ways like
a bird. Crocodiles and similar primitive reptiles have two ovaries enabling them
to lay a clutch of eggs. Birds have a single ovary and can only lay one egg at a
time.The dinosaur’s
egg-producing capability lay somewhere in between, suggesting a link with the
modern bird, researchers said. It could produce more than one egg, but only one
from each ovary at a time.The theory that
birds came from dinosaurs has been supported by many researchers, said Tamaki
Sato of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. But this latest research helps
advance it, she added, calling it “strong evidence.”There have been
previous findings of round objects around dinosaur skeletons and scientists have
suspected they might be eggs but because they did not have shells, there wasn’t
certainty, Sato said.“You have egg
shells with this one,” she said of the specimen at the National Museum of
Natural Science in Taiwan that was excavated from China. “This is the first time
for sure.”The scientists
studied a dinosaur from a group of dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurians. This
type of dinosaur — probably 10 feet to 13 feet long — is a subgroup of the
theropods, thought to have been the ancestors to modern birds.The remains of the
shelled eggs looked like pineapple-sized potatoes. The similar size of the eggs
suggests the creature’s two oviducts each produced a single, shelled egg at the
same time, the report said.Matt Carrano,
curator of dinosaurs at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington,
said the findings provide greater insights into the biology of the dinosaur and
the evolution of birds.“It’s a window into
a particular stage of evolution,” he said. “This particular dinosaur has
characteristics that are birdlike but retains reptillian-like
features.”“You have oviducts
but they’re only doing one egg at time. Its biology is half way there between a
bird and reptile.”Carrano also said
it tells something about birds.“The evolution of
one egg at a time happened very early, before birds could fly, and then the
evolution of only one oviduct happened later,” he said.“That might be
related to the origin of flight,” he said, explaining that maybe birds wanted to
lighten their body and so developed one oviduct. -
AuthorApril 30, 2005 at 10:08 AM
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