Scientists Discovered 66-Million-Year-Old Egg From Mystery Creature
66-MILLION-YEAR-OLD EGG – Scientists discovered an egg dating back over 66-million-years ago from an animal that’s as large as a dinosaur.
However, they became puzzled as the shape of the egg was unlike any dinosaur egg ever seen before.
According to an article from IFLS, the foot-ball shaped egg way have been laid by an extinct marine reptile known as a mosasaur. Meanwhile, the lead author of the study, Lucas Legendre, a postdoctoral researcher said:
“It is from an animal the size of a large dinosaur, but it is completely unlike a dinosaur egg“
Furthermore, the size of the egg was reported at 28-by-18 centimeters or (11-by-7 inches). But, due to the mysterious nature of the ancient egg fossil, scientists now refer to it simply as “The Thing”.
To prove that the fossil was in fact an egg, researchers pierced through its many layers using microscopes. Moreover, the thin-shelled egged was one of the largest eggs to have been discovered, second only to the elephant bird’s egg.
But, the egg had already hatched more than tens of millions of years ago. This meant that what ever was inside was long gone. Still, scientist are baffled as to what species laid the large egg.
As such, scientists compared the data from over 259 living reptiles to compare the egg to body size. With this, scientists discovered that the animal would’ve been around 6 meters or 20 feet long from end to end.
Currently, researchers are leaning towards the possibility of the egg belonging to a mosasaur or maybe even a dinosaur species yet to be determined. As per the article, the researchers wrote:
Such a large egg with a relatively thin eggshell may reflect derived constraints associated with body shape, reproductive investment linked with gigantism, and lepidosaurian viviparity
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