Rare Dinosaur Eggs Discovered by N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences Paleontologist
For immediate release ‐ March 29, 2018
Contact: Jon Pishney, 919.707.8083 and Michele Walker, 919.807.7429. Images available upon request
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RALEIGH, N.C. — Of all the ways humans interact with dinosaurs, eating their eggs is surely the most commonplace. Visit any home in America today and you’ll undoubtedly encounter a dozen or so biding their time in the fridge next to a quart of milk and brick of butter. Yet, finding a fossilized dinosaur egg is quite simply, an extraordinary occurrence. Although large numbers of spectacular fossil nests have been recovered in Asia, the continental record in North America is poor. This contrast is particularly striking for the bizarre, bird-like group of theropod dinosaurs dubbed oviraptorosaurs. To imagine an oviraptorosaur, picture an overgrown cassowary, complete with a half-moon shaped crest on the head, toothless beak, long feathers on the arms, and a broad tail-feather fan similar to a turkey. Hundreds of oviraptorosaur nests, each containing dozens of eggs, are known from China and Mongolia, yet only two fragmentary eggs have yet been definitively described from the continent of North America.
That all changed in October, when a team of paleontologists led by Lindsay Zanno, head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and assistant research professor at N.C. State University, recovered a clutch of more than eight football-sized oviraptorosaur eggs, from sediments deposited during the Late Cretaceous, around 97 million years ago. The site, located in an area in central Utah known as the San Rafael Swell, also contained evidence of ancient trees that once lined the river bank where the dinosaur parents-to-be sat roosting on their nests.
“This is the first time we found a clutch of oviraptorosaur eggs on the North American continent,” Zanno adds, “it’s incredibly exciting for us.” When describing the day he found the eggs, Terry Gates of N.C. State’s Department of Biological Sciences says, “It was a moment when 20 years of hard-earned determination, patience, luck and that little voice inside my head led to one of the most important fossil discoveries of my life.”
Zanno adds that discovering the eggs, tucked in the side of a 2,000-foot, sheer cliff-face her team dubbed the “Cliffs of Insanity” (a name that needs no explanation to fans of “The Princess Bride”), was just the beginning. After preparing the egg clutch for removal, the resulting 1,400-pound plaster-encased clutch was well beyond the team’s capacity to carry out on foot, and no vehicle could reach the cliff. That left only one solution — helicopter salvage. After airlifting the clutch from the cliff, the eggs were laid carefully into the bed of a truck-drawn trailer for transportation back to North Carolina.
Now, safely back at the Museum, chief fossil preparator Aaron Giterman has begun to slowly release the fossil eggs from the surrounding rock so they can be studied. Visitors to the Museum can watch the preparation of eggs behind the glass walls of the Paleontology Research Lab beginning on March 29.
“We are fortunate to have some incredibly talented scientists and researchers on our staff, and they amaze me every day with the fascinating and important discoveries they make about our natural world,” said Susi H. Hamilton, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “I can’t wait to see what our paleontologists can learn from this exciting find.”
Watch a video of the dinosaur egg nest being airlifted off the cliff face by helicopter:
Watch a video of the dinosaur egg nest unveiling in the SECU Daily Planet:
About the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh (11 and 121 W. Jones St.) is an active research institution that engages visitors of every age and stage of learning in the wonders of science and the natural world. Hours: Monday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. General admission is free. Emlyn Koster, PhD, Director. For more information, visit naturalsciences.org.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state’s natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. NCDNCR’s mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state’s history, conserving the state’s natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, two science museums, three aquariums and Jennette’s Pier, 39 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, along with the Division of Land and Water Stewardship. For more information, please call 919.807.7300 or visit www.ncdcr.gov.