Scientists found out the earliest evidence of dinosaur herds’ behavior in Argentina. As per the study, presented in Scientific Reports, the researcher team from MIT, Argentina, and South Africa, feature their discovery of a remarkably conserved group of early dinosaurs that displays the signs of their herd behavior as early as 193 million years ago.
The members of this research team have exhumed more than 100 eggs of dinosaurs and unfinished skeletons of 80 young and adult dinosaurs from a rich fossil bed in southern Patagonia. The team used the X-ray tomography imaging technique the egg’s contents without breaking them separately and exposed conserved embryos inside. The team used these embryos to check that the fossils were all members of Mussaurus Patagonia.
Mussaurus Patagonia is a plant-eating dinosaur that was lived in the early Jurassic era and they were categorized as sauropodomorphs. They were the ancestor of the massive, long-necked sauropods that later traveled the Earth.
The researchers also observed that the Dinosaur eggs and fledglings were found in one area, whereas skeletons of young’s were grouped in early localities. Moreover, the adult dinosaurs were found alone or in pairs all over the field site.
The researchers believe that the “eggs segregation” is a very strong sign of a complex and herd-like social structure. The dinosaurs used to work as a community where they used to lay down eggs in a common nesting area. Young dinosaurs used to gather in “Schools”, whereas adults used to wander around and look around for the herd.
Jahandar Ramezani, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences said that “There’s a larger community structure, where adults shared and took part in raising the whole community.”. The research team’s outcomes signify the earliest evidence of social herding between dinosaurs.
