Blog Archives

A fantastic discovery has been made in early Jurassic strata at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa. The area has previously revealed many excellent fossils, including skeletons of prosauropod (early dinosaurs preceding Sauropods, and often bipedal) Massospondylus. In 1976, a block of siltstone was found to contain a partial egg clutch of this species with in ovo embryonic remains. A study led by Prof. Robert Reisz (University of Toronto), began in 2006 to investigate the site further and has uncovered a nesting site with several complete nests and fascinating evidence of complex reproductive behaviours. The nesting site is approximately 190 million years old, making it the oldest vertebrate nesting site of its kind, and 100 million years older than the previously oldest known nesting site with in ovo embryonic fossils. Read the rest of this entry →