Scientists have discovered a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo in the process of hatching from its egg, precisely like a chicken.
The embryo was discovered near Ganzhou, China, and is thought to be at least 66 million years old, according to experts.
It has been given the name Baby Yingliang and is thought to be a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur.
It is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history,” according to researcher Dr. Fion Waisum Ma.
Researchers now have a better grasp of the relationship between dinosaurs and current birds as a result of the discovery. The embryo was coiled in a position known as “tucking” in the fossil, which is a behavior found in birds just before hatching.
“This indicates that such behaviour in modern birds first evolved and originated among their dinosaur ancestors,” Dr Ma told the AFP news agency.
Oviraptorosaurs, which means “egg thief lizards,” were feathered dinosaurs that lived between 100 million and 66 million years ago in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous era.
Prof. Steve Brusatte, who was also a member of the study team, said it was “one of the most magnificent dinosaur fossils” he had ever seen, and that the embryo was about to hatch.