Stunning Discovery of 193 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Eggs Sheds New Light on Reptiles’ Early Species

The discovery of chicken-sized eggs – belonging to the early species of dinosaurs known as Mussaurus patagonicus – in Argentina has been hailed as "one of a kind."

A sensational discovery has been made by palaeontologists in Argentina.

More than 100 dinosaur eggs with their embryos still inside, dating back 193 million years, have been dug up in southern Patagonia, with research published in Scientific Reports proving that “dinosaurs moved in herds.

Scientists use ESRF high-energy X-rays to penetrate in the #dinosaur eggs without destroying it and get a full view inside it, discovering embryos of Mussaurus Patagonicus pic.twitter.com/Ywnlz4xk2h

— Hans Solo (@thandojo) October 23, 2021

The site also offered up the fossilised bones of around 80 juveniles and adults, with scans showing they belonged to the same species – a long necked herbivore called Mussaurus patagonicus.

A Jurassic graveyard in Patagonia, Argentina, holds more than 100 fossilized eggs & the bones of 80 Mussaurus patagonicus dinosaurs ranging in age from hatchling to adult. The trove of dinosaur remains suggests that these paleo-beasts lived in herds 192 million years ago pic.twitter.com/zMEo6bcB5p

— 🌳 Flora & Fauna 🐾 (@Floris_et_Fauna) October 23, 2021

The plant eater is estimated to have reached up to 6 metres in length and weighed over a tonne, living in the early Jurassic period. It is a member of the sauropodomorphs.

Do you want to get up, close and personal with a fossilised Mussaurus Patagonicus egg? Check out the video made by @vinfernand @poldiego with the data from their non-destructive experiment at the ESRF. pic.twitter.com/BdlzMnFBNS

— European Synchrotron (@esrfsynchrotron) October 21, 2021

The find, hailed as “one of a kind,” is the first ever evidence of herd behaviour in dinosaurs.

"I went to this site aiming to find at least one nice dinosaur skeleton. We ended up with 80 skeletons and more than 100 eggs (some with embryos preserved inside!)" Diego Pol, a researcher with the Egidio Feruglio Palaeontology Museum in Patagonia and the lead author of the new study, was cited by Insider as saying.

Prior to this find, researchers believed that herd behaviour was solely attributed to dinosaurs which existed later in the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods.

A Jurassic age (161-145 million years) dinosaur skeleton of an Allosaurus Jimmadseni, found in Wyoming, U.S. is displayed at Drouot auction house, in Paris, Wednesday April 11, 2018. The Allosaurus with a Diplodocus will be auctioned as part of a collection entitled 'Nature et Merveilles'.

© AP Photo / Francois Mori

“We’ve now observed and documented this earliest social behaviour in dinosaurs... This raises the question now of whether living in a herd may have had a major role in dinosaurs’ early evolutionary success. This gives us some clues to how dinosaurs evolved,” said co author Dr Jahandar Ramezani, a geologist at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).