Dinosaur egg found to contain 72-million-year-old embryo

Dinosaur egg found to contain 72-million-year-old embryo

(Reuters) - A 72-million-year-old dinosaur embryo has been discovered inside a fossilised egg that scientists describe as one of the best-preserved specimens of its kind ever found.

The embryo, dubbed  Baby Yingliang , was discovered in Ganzhou in southern China. It belongs to a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviratorosaur, and is 72 to 66 million years old.

Scientists from the University of Birmingham in the UK and the China University of Geosciences in Beijing observed the embryo in a "tucking" position, which was previously thought to be the pre-hatching behaviour of birds.

"This behaviour has long been thought unique to birds but now we see evidence in our fossil that even in non-bird dinosaurs they might have the same type of pre-hatching behaviour," said Fion Waisum Ma, a joint lead author of the study from Birmingham University.

The fossilised egg was discovered in late cretaceous rock in 2000 but scientists have been examining it over the past four years, when the embryo inside was found.