Researchers have made an amazing discovery in central India. Ninety-two nests containing 256 titanosaur eggs have been excavated, making it possible to study the behavior and biology of these giants of the past.
titanosaurs. This is a fairly explicit name for these giants that lived 90-65 million years ago. They are part of the last group of sauropods before extinction that marks the boundary between Cretaceous and Tertiary. This group of dinosaurs has many of the heaviest species that have ever walked the earth. It is estimated that some specimens weigh up to 100 tons, can be tens of meters long and several meters high.
Widespread, these giant, long-necked herbivores likely dominated their surroundings. Petrified remains have actually been found all over the world, from Antarctica to Italy, through Australia and India.
In the Narmada Valley in central India, researchers from New Delhi made an extraordinary discovery. 92 titanosaur nests have been found, containing a total of 256 fossilized eggs.
The same behavior as birds
Six types of eggs were identified in this way, suggesting that the number of different species was much greater than the skeletons discovered in the region suggested. Analysis of nests and eggs has also provided valuable information about titanosaur habitats and biology. The results are presented in the journal PLOS One.
Similar to modern-day crocodiles, these dinosaurs buried their eggs shallow in the ground. The nests appear to be clustered together in a fairly small area, suggesting that, like some birds, titanosaurs gathered in “colonies” to lay eggs. However, the relatively small distance between the nests shows that the females had to leave the spawning area quickly, without waiting for the eggs to hatch and thus abandoning the young to their fate. In these nests, scientists have discovered some cases of “egg in egg,” a rare pathology found in modern birds. This suggests that titanosaurs had a relatively similar reproductive system to birds, which lay their eggs one at a time.
This hatchery is therefore an opportunity to study the behavior of these dinosaurs, which the skeletons do not allow.