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How did dinosaurs reproduce?

The Central Asiatic Expeditions, led by AMNH's Roy Chapman Andrews and Walter Granger, discovered some of the earliest, well-preserved dinosaur eggs in Mongolia during the 1920s. The oval-shaped eggs, about 20 cm long, were thought to belong to the most commonly found dinosaur at the Flaming Cliffs, Protoceratops. However, AMNH expeditions in the 1990s discovered identical eggs, one of which contained the embryo of an Oviraptor-like dinosaur, which altered our view of which dinosaur laid these eggs. Also, skeletons of Oviraptor were discovered squatting on top of clusters of eggs, with their arms folded back against their body, just like many living birds brood on their nests. Created by American Museum of Natural History.

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Video transcript

Dinosaurs reproduced just like all other animals do, I mean, certainly that we know a lot from crocodiles we know a lot from birds but we also, we found a lot of dinosaur nests, I mean as far as we can tell is that is all dinosaurs, non-bird dinosaurs, laid eggs. In some cases we know that, that the animals brooded their nests, just like modern birds do. We found a couple of remarkable discoveries that animals, sitting on top of their nests, you know brooding their clutches, you know, just like the chickens do on a farm today, so that at least in some forms there probably was a great deal of parental care as well.