Comparison of medium-sized and giant oviraptorosaurs nesting. The smaller one distributes its weight over both the eggs and the central opening of the nest during incubation. The giant individual likely rested most of its weight on the large central opening of the nest. (Masato Hattori)
They were heavier than hippos, but dinosaurs like gigantoraptor were dedicated parents who sat for weeks on nests full of eggs just as today’s birds do — and found a unique way to avoid crushing them, a Canadian-led study has found.
The researchers examined and measured about 40 fossil nests, mostly from China, each containing up to 30 eggs, of bird-like dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks called oviraptorosaurs. They found that the smallest were
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