Researchers in Ganzhou, south China, have found a fossilized dinosaur egg dating between 66 and 72 million years ago.
The egg is about 17 centimeters long and the dinosaur is estimated to be about 27 centimeters (about 11 inches) long from head to tail.
Researchers believe that if the fetus lived to puberty, its length would range from two to three meters.
The fossil preserves the embryonic skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur, which has been named Baby Yingliang after the Chinese Museum that houses the fossil.
The researchers said that the fetus may have been kept in good condition thanks to a layer of mud that shielded it and protected it from carrion eaters. The dinosaur embryo was found in a position in which its head is located below the body with the feet on both sides and the back is wrapped along the sharp end of the egg, which is the position of bending bird embryos to help the successful hatching process.
Darla Zelenitsky, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Calgary in Canada, said the tiny dinosaur bones are small and brittle and are rarely preserved as fossils, making this a very lucky find.
“It’s an amazing specimen… I’ve been working on dinosaur eggs for 25 years and haven’t seen anything like it yet,” added Zelenitsky, one of the authors of the research published in iScience.