One Dinosaur Was Preserved While Incubating Her Nest

When a fossil of a committed mother incubating her eggs was unearthed in the Gobi Desert, it caused quite a stir. The 80 million-year-old Oviraptor contributed to the discovery that some dinosaurs possessed strong maternal instincts at a period when there was little evidence to support the theory. It also bolstered the notion that dinosaurs and birds were very similar. While guarding her nest against the weather, the unfortunate mother was most likely buried in sand, immortalizing her as one of the finest moms in prehistory.

The fossils, discovered in Mongolia, are around 70 million years old and all represent young individuals of Protoceratops andrewsi that died when they were buried beneath an ancient sand dune. The entire nest was spherical and bowl-shaped, with a diameter of around 2.3 feet. The fact that all of the young dinosaurs were developing in the same nest indicates that certain dinosaur species offered parental care, at least in the early phases of post-natal growth.