Dinosaur Egg

Dinosaur Egg

Dinosaur eggs are represented today as fossils. They represent the product of egg laying activity and can offer clues as to how dinosaurs behaved. In some cases the embryonic dinosaur is preserved within the eggshell, and can be studied.

Dinosaur eggs are known from about 200 sites around the world, the majority in Asia and mostly in terrestrial (nonmarine) rocks of Cretaceous Age. It may be that thick calciteeggshells evolved during the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago). Most dinosaur eggs have one of two forms of eggshell that are distinct from the shells of related modern animal groups, such asturtles or birds. However, some dinosaur eggs closely resemble bird eggs, particularly the type of eggshells in ostrich eggs.

The oldest known dinosaur eggs are from Massospondylus, which lived during the Early Jurassic, about 190 million years ago.