Scientists Discover Fossil with Baby Dinosaur Remains in Belly

Rarely do we find fossils that have other fossil remains inside them. We should expect that things that have been digested would not become fossilized. But a new recent find in Alberta, Canada shows exactly that: a gorgosaurus fossil with what seems to be fossilized remains of baby dinosaurs in its stomach.

Most of the previous finds that had stuff in their stomachs were from herbivores, and that's why this rare discovery is stirring up a lot of excitement among the scientific community. The fossil was first discovered in 2009 by Darren Tanke, a technician from the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Tanke later noticed, as the team was cleaning up the fossil, that there were some toe bones poking out of the dinosaur fossil's belly. When they looked further into it, they discovered that there were two complete pairs of legs and feet inside. They identified the two baby dinosaurs as Citipes elegans, a bird-like dinosaur.

Apparently, the gorgosaurus only ate the leg parts as they are considered the meatiest part.

(Image credit: Darla Zelenitsky/University of Calgary)


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I remember as a small child my mother took me to the Museum of Natural History in Boston. There, on a pedestal, sitting on a cushion and in an enclosed glass case sat a huge dinosaur egg. Bigger than a basketball it definitely was 'museum quality'. I must have stared at that egg for 15 minutes. Nothing my mother said would make me leave that pedestal and look at other things. That egg looked in perfect condition and I was fascinated with it. It was the beginning of my love for all things 'dinosaur'. Paleontologist was the name I wanted to have. My body said different being unable to do the digs but to this day I still love all things 'dinosaur'.
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