Researchers have made an astonishing discovery in central India. Ninety-two nests containing 256 titanosaur eggs have been unearthed, making it possible to study the behavior and biology of these past giants.

Titanosaurus. This is a rather explicit name for a giant that lived between 90 and 65 million years ago. They were part of the last group of sauropods before the extinction that marked the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. This group of dinosaurs has many species among the heaviest to ever walk the earth. It is estimated that some specimens weighed up to 100 tonnes, were several tens of meters long and several meters high.

Widely distributed, these giant long-necked herbivores likely dominated their environment. Fossil remains did exist found all over the worldfrom Antarctica to Italy, via Australia and India.

In the Narmada Valley, in central India, researchers from New Delhi made an astonishing discovery. Ninety-two nests belonging to a titanosaur have been found, containing a total of 256 fossil eggs.

The same behavior as birds

Thus, six egg species were identified, indicating that the number of different species was much larger than the skeletons found in the region suggested. analysis nest and eggs also provides valuable information about the life habits of the titanosaur and its biology. The results are presented in a journal PLOS One.

Like today’s crocodiles, these dinosaurs buried their eggs in shallow soil. The nests appear to be grouped together over a fairly small area, suggesting that the titanosaurs gathered in “colonies” to lay their eggs, like some birds. The distance between the nests is relatively small indicates, however, that the female should leave the spawning area quickly, without waiting for the eggs to hatch and thus leaving the young to their fate. In these nests, scientists have found several cases of “egg in an egg”, a rare pathology found in modern birds. This suggests that titanosaurs had a relatively similar reproductive system to birds, which laid their eggs in succession.

Therefore, this hatch is an opportunity to study the behavior of these dinosaurs, which skeletons would not allow.