According to science, dinosaurs were real daddy chickens!
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Paternity has been widely recorded in humans, and it involves ensuring the proper development of one’s offspring, which is not innate in many animal species…but apparently it was the case for dinosaurs! According to the research of paleontologists, the fossils of some extinct species already testify to a strong instinct to protect their offspring.
Oviraptors, protectors born to fly
So dinosaurs were model parents? Anyway, some of them seem very invested in their role. Based on the fossilized eggs, the researchers discovered that the oocytes were particularly interested in the proper development of their offspring.
explains Darla Zelenitsky, a paleontologist from the University of Calgary and one of the researchers in charge of the research.
If this species was so keen to protect its eggs, it might be because it was specialized in stealing those of other species… In fact, Oviraptor mainly fed on eggs that they stole from their own nests. … By the way, oviraptor means “egg thief” in Latin.
Dinosaurs with parental instincts
In the 1970s, paleontologist Jack Horner studied the remains of a giant fossilized nest he dubbed “Egg Mountain”. The latter appears to have hosted hundreds of specimens of Maiasauras (an oviparous dinosaur with an appearance similar to that of Oviraptor, editor’s note). Thus, the American scientist was able to prove that this “duck-billed dinosaur” was a super-dad, protecting the eggs, and then, after hatching, her young … That is, until they are old enough to leave the nest!
Awwww….look at the little dinosaur babies! Maiasaura took great care of her young – hence the term “Good Mother Saurian”. # Sciences # museums # to open # digital art pic.twitter.com/NaCHzzizsV
—JackHornerDinos October 23, 2021
Jack Horner also found traces of individuals of various sizes in the nest, which sparked the theory that the Maiasaura young did not leave the family lair until very late.
“The evidence shows that dinosaurs were good parents,” asserts David Varichio, an American paleontologist at the University of Montana. He adds that “parental care provided by most dinosaurs did not exceed six, seven, eight or nine months” and that “there were no family groups.” So , the theory is that these little dinosaurs sooner or later end up leaving the nest to grow apart from their parents…just like humans!
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