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Dinosaur eggs discovered in Fujian province

By HU MEIDONG and ZHANG YU | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2023-05-22

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A fossil egg nest and a section of eggshell belonging to dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous epoch were discovered recently in Huangzhu village of Shanghang county, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Fossil dinosaur eggs from the Late Cretaceous epoch were discovered recently in Huangzhu village of Shanghang county, Fujian province, the county's bureau of natural resources said on Thursday.

They were discovered by a research team from the Fujian Institute of Geological Survey. Experts said it could be an egg nest that was in the hatching stage or had already hatched, and had been preserved at its original location.

Last year, more than 30 fossil footprints of dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous epoch were found.

According to Wang Qiang, associate researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the nest included a large piece of an eggshell.

"Through the large eggshell, we can judge that the size of the egg would have been 15 to 17 centimeters," Wang said.

Experts believed the shell was from an oviraptor, a bipedal dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous period having a toothless jaw and long forelimbs with clawed fingers.

"There are many questions that need further research, such as how long it took to lay the eggs," Wang said.

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