Dinosaurs are so big, and this is why…

The world’s oldest dinosaur embryos, some of which still feature organic material, have been found in Southwest China, researchers announced Wednesday.

This has given more answers to why dinosaurs grew into big sizes. The embryos are among the oldest embryos ever found. It is believed that it existed about 175 and 199 million years ago!

Artist impression of embryonic lufengosaurus. Credit:NBC News

The embryos of the dinosaurs were said to quickly grow out of its shell faster than any bird or dinosaur ever found.


This implied that it grew much faster than any bird and that is why it grew to be a giant. Findings put the average length of a fully grown Lufengosaurus at 6 metres (20 feet) and weight at two tons. Lufengosaurus is an herbivore.

The research team was led by Robert Reisz, a paleontologist with the University of Toronto, the team discovered 20 embryonic Lufengosaurus fossils.

Robert Reisz in his words said: “We’re looking at the beginning of the age of the dinosaurs, when they were just becoming the dominant terrestrial vertebrates of their time,” he said.

“It tells us quite a bit about early embryonic stages and changes that occur in embryonic life of these animals – something we haven’t really seen before,”

Cross section of an embryonic dinosaur. Credit: NBC News

“To find organic remains is quite startling and surprising.” Reisz says that the team analyzed over 100 bones from the 20 fossils. The embryos were in different stages of development, which allowed them to make detailed conclusions about how the dinosaur developed. Unlike later dinosaurs,

Lufengosaurus eggs were extremely thin and porous, perhaps because the dinosaurs developed quickly.

“When we find embryos we usually get one time slice of embryonic life because that was what was captured,” he continued. “What we see is a very high rate of growth – much faster than either living animals or other dinosaurs that we know of.”

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