MASSOSPONDYLUS
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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Dinosaur embryo suggests little monsters depended on 'parental care' |
| 2005-07-29 |
| A pair of the oldest fossilised embryos ever discovered has shed new light on dinosaur evolution, scientists said today. The embryos were found in eggs laid 190 million years ago by a primitive plant-eating dinosaur, Massospondylus carinatus. Scientists found the clutch of six fossilised eggs in a South African national park in 1978, one of which had hatched. Only now have they managed fully to expose the delicate embryo bones from two of the three-inch long eggs. The Canadian, US and South African researchers have published their findings in the journal Science, and revealed a wealth of new information on dinosaur development and evolution. Massospondylus lived during the early reign of the dinosaurs at the start of the Jurassic period and was common on the flood plains of what is now South Africa. Measuring more than five yards long, it was a vegetarian, with a long neck and tail, and a short head. The creature had short forelimbs and was capable of standing and walking on two legs. The Massospondylus hatchling was born with a relatively short tail, horizontally held neck, long forelimbs and a huge head with no teeth. Prof Robert Reisz, from the University of Toronto, who led the research, said: "These embryos, which were clearly ready to hatch, had overall awkward body proportions and no mechanism for feeding themselves, which suggest they required parental care. "If this interpretation is correct, we have here the oldest known indication of parental care in the fossil record." The well-preserved embryos pre-date any others by at least 100 million years. Most of the fossilised embryos discovered so far have been from the Cretaceous period, between 65 million and 146 million years ago. Sen. Santorum, call your publicist ... we have another piece of evidence for the importance of heterosexual marriage .... heh |
| Posted by:too true |
| #5 Naw the Ethelphillia Gargantua would have a massive coat hanger fossil instead of embryos. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-29 15:39 |
| #4 Steve, that's a low blow. Did not know that EK was doing scientific research that night in Chapaquidick. Which came first, the Massosponylus or the Ted? |
| Posted by: john 2005-07-29 15:12 |
| #3 Massospondylus Also known as Teddy Kennedy |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-29 14:23 |
| #2 I thought it took a village? |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-07-29 13:12 |
| #1 MASSOSPONDYLUS |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-07-29 11:44 |