Dinosaur Eggs and Nests: Maiasaura, Oviraptor and Care
Dinosaur eggs reached 60 cm with porous shells, while Maiasaura colonies and brooding Oviraptor show parental care.
Colonies, giants and pores
Maiasaura built nesting colonies with hundreds of 2-meter-wide mounds spaced 7 meters apart 76 million years ago. Adults fed 3-meter babies staying weeks in nests, while largest Macroelongatoolithus eggs reached 60 centimeters and 5 liters.
Eggshells contained thousands of gas-exchange pores that let oxygen in and carbon dioxide out during 60-day incubation. Thick 5-millimeter shells protected 400-kilogram mothers stepping near nests, while inner membranes kept 2-kilogram embryos moist in dry Cretaceous summers.
Oviraptor myth and babies
Oviraptor died brooding its own 22 eggs, not stealing, as an 80-million-year-old Mongolian fossil shows. The egg-thief name came from a 1923 mistake with Protoceratops nests. Later finds show devoted parents enduring sandstorms, feathers shielding 30-centimeter clutches.
Some babies were precocial and ran within hours, like 20-centimeter ornithopod hatchlings with strong legs. Others were altricial and blind, needing 4 months of feeding before walking 500 meters with herds across floodplains.
- Maiasaura colonies with 2-meter nests.
- Oviraptor brooded 22 eggs, not stealing.
- Largest eggs 60 cm, 5 liters volume.
- Shell pores exchanged gases for 60 days.
- Precocial runners vs altricial nest babies.