Dinosaur Eggs (Photo : YouTube)
Construction workers from Heyuan, Guangdong China discovered 43 fossilized dinosaur eggs last week, 19 of which are still fully intact.
The workers found the eggs when they were repairing a road in the said area. Heyuan is coined as the "Home of Dinosaurs" as there are over 17,000 dinosaur egg fossils unearthed in the area since 1996, The Verge reported.
The province's local museum, Heyuan Dinosaur Fossil Museum, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of fossilized eggs in 2004. During that year, the museum had over 10,000 eggs stored in the gallery.
Heyuan is not only a hotspot for fossilized eggs but also an area where 11 fossilized skeletons and around 168 footprint fossils of dinosaurs were discovered, China Daily reported.
Huang Dong, a local dinosaur specialist and the curator of the museum, shared to the publication that authorities of the said province allocated $7 million for the construction of another fossil museum this year as well as a dinosaur theme park. This will help boost tourism in the province and will also help in improving the scientific researches in line with dinosaurs.
The eggs housed by the Heyuan Dinosaur Fossil Museum belong to oviraptorid and duck-billed dinosaurs. The newly discovered eggs are yet to be announced as to what species of dinosaur they belong to. The 43 eggs are currently being examined and the largest in diameter is said to be 7 inches. However, Dong shared that these eggs are believed to be 65 million years old.
David Evans, the curator of Vertebrate Paleontology of Royal Ontario Museum, noted that Heyuan is popular for the abundance of dinosaur eggs due to the location and the environment of the said province. These fossilized dinosaur eggs are also considered as the rarest kind of eggs to be discovered on Earth.
