Experts find 92 nests, 256 fossil eggs of world’s largest dinosaurs in MP

This wealth of data is a huge discovery as the details of dinosaur's reproductive habits have always been a challenge for researchers globally.

Researchers have uncovered 92 nesting sites containing 256 fossil eggs of the world's largest dinosaurs in Lamenta formation in Madhya Pradesh. This comes as a huge discovery as the details of dinosaur's reproductive habits is always a huge challenge for researchers and these fossil nests now provide a wealth of data about titanosaurs, and they come from a time shortly before the age of dinosaurs came to an end.

The study, led by Harsha Dhiman of the University of Delhi, was published January 18 in the journal 'PLOS ONE'. Detailed examination of these nests has allowed Dhiman and colleagues to make inferences about the life habits of these dinosaurs.

All about titanosaurs

According to the information in Britannica.com, titanosaur is a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs which lived from the Late Jurassic Epoch (163.5 million to 145 million years ago) to the end of the Cretaceous Period (145 million to 66 million years ago). Titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica and include some 40 species. The group contains the largest terrestrial animals known, some even approaching the size of modern whales.

Titanosaurs were herbivorous quadrupeds with long tails, long necks and small heads, and possessed vertebrae with a honeycomb-like internal structure.

Important findings from the discovery

The researchers found six different egg species, also known as oospecies, in the region. This discovery suggests a higher diversity of titanosaurs than is represented by skeletal remains from this region.

Certain pathologies found in the eggs, such as a rare case of an "egg-in-egg," indicate that titanosaur sauropods had a reproductive physiology that parallels that of birds and possibly laid their eggs in a sequential manner as seen in modern birds, the published paper noted.

Interestingly, based on the layout of these 92 nesting sites, the researchers inferred that these dinosaurs buried their eggs in shallow pits similar to the ones made by modern-day crocodiles.

Besides, the presence of many nests in the same area suggests these dinosaurs exhibited colonial nesting behaviour like many modern birds. But the close spacing of the nests left little room for adult dinosaurs, supporting the idea that adults left the hatchlings (newborns) to fend for themselves.

The insights from this study contribute significantly to palaeontologists' understanding of how dinosaurs lived and evolved. Harsha Dhiman, lead author of the research, said: "Our research has revealed the presence of an extensive hatchery of titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs in the study area and offers new insights into the conditions of nest preservation and reproductive strategies of titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs just before they went extinct."

Significance of Lameta Formation for dinosaur studies

The Lameta Formation, located in the Narmada Valley of central India, is well-known for fossils of dinosaur skeletons and eggs of the Late Cretaceous Period.

Guntupalli V.R. Prasad, co-author and leader of the research team, adds: "Together with dinosaur nests from Jabalpur in the upper Narmada valley in the east and those from Balasinor in the west, the new nesting sites from Dhar District in Madhya Pradesh (Central India), covering an east-west stretch of about 1000 km, constitute one of the largest dinosaur hatcheries in the world."