Dinosaur embryo revealed
HIS EXQUISITE illustration of an unhatched dinosaur fossil by renowned palaeontologist and artist Dr Lida Xing is based on one of a number of fossilised eggs discovered in the Late Cretaceous Hekou Formation in southern China in 2000. The fossils languished in the private collection of the Yingliang Stone Company for a decade until they were rediscovered during the construction of the company’s natural history museum. They were subsequently dated to between 66 and 72 million years old and identified as dinosaur eggs. “Fossil preparation was conducted and eventually unveiled the embryo hidden inside the egg,” said Lida. It was identified as an oviraptor, a group of feathered dinosaurs closely related to modern birds. It’s a rare discovery made even rarer by the embryo’s posture inside the 17cm egg, which closely resembles that of a baby bird curled up and getting ready to hatch.
