When the first fossilized fragments of dinosaur eggshells were discovered and described around 1860, most individuals — including most scientists — were wholly unaware of what the dinosaurs were, not to mention the ways that the dinosaurs were born. It wasn’t until 1920 or so that scientists described dinosaur eggshells as dinosaur eggshells for the first time.
In the years since then, the occasional discoveries of eggs and eggshells have become one of the best windows into the way that baby dinosaurs burst into the world, many millions of years ago.
Paleontologists are inclined to think that every one of the extinct dinosaurs emerged out of an externally laid egg, whether a triceratops, a tyrannosaurus, a stegosaurus or any other type of dinosaur. In fact, though there aren’t any sure signs in the fossil record that any of these animals produced live progeny, there are an abundance of indications that ...
