Learn fossils of 24 calves, "ingrown" in rock, paleontologists from the Pennsylvania Institute presented that this is the nursery of the dinosaurs, where children watched an adult "nanny".

Own conclusions scientists presented in the journal Cretaceous Research and in the press release of the Institute.

A piece of rock from the fossilized remains of herbivores psittakosaur (Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis) was found in geological formations Yixian (Liaoning province, northeast China). Briefly, the finding was described in 2004, but American scientists decided to investigate it by x-ray diffraction, and under the microscope.

Analysis of rock showed that it consists of compounds of volcanic origin. In other words, the dinosaurs died in the flow of the substance after the eruption of the volcano. The orientation of their spines in the same direction also argues in favor of this hypothesis. Because on the bones of dinosaurs not found fingerprints heat exposure, the researchers decided that the dinosaurs died in Lahore - Grazia thread, which was formed by mixing of hot volcanic material with shower, chunks of glaciers and the waters of the rivers.

24 baby psittacosaur (their age is outlined in 120 million years) were approximately the same size. At first, scientists believed that the embryos that failed to hatch from eggs, but almost no fingerprints shell in the rock is not revealed. In addition, limb bones of dinosaurs overly developed for the stage of the embryo.

Big skull was inter alia hard "drowned" in the rock - apparently, he got there not by accident. Judging by the size of the skull, its owner at the time of death was 4 or 5 years. Sexual maturity lizards of this species reach 8-9 years, so this individual could not be a parent of the young. Probably it was their older brother (or sister), which was a "nanny" for newborns psittakosaur.

Scientists cannot with absolute confidence that this meeting remains is the "nest" - the offspring of a single pair of parents. Only a more thorough test of the microstructure of the bones may help to answer the question was not whether all the dinosaurs on the same stage of development and, therefore, hatched at the same time.
sections: Society, World News