20041012

Meng Q., Liu J., Varricchio D. J., Huang T. & Gao C. Nature, 431. 145 - 146 (2004)

Fossils of teeth found at the same site in China from Allosaurus dinosaurs of differing ages, and fossils of groups of young Maiasaura have hinted that dinosaurs may have indulged in parental care. Now a new discovery sheds more light into our understanding of dinoasaur parantal behaviour as a fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised their young after hatching. This latest discovery of 125 million-year old fossils from Liaoning province (China) consist out of complete skeletons, crowded together in lif-like positions with their legs tucked under and heads raised, indicating that they were buried alive rather than swept together after death.The newly unearthed juveniles are about a quarter of the length of the adult, and far bigger than hatchlings. According to David Varricchio of Montana State University in Bozeman, US, who examined the ancient remains with Jinyuan Liu of the Dalian Natural History Museum, China, and colleagues does this suggest that the adult had tended them for some time

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