THEY WOULD HAVE TERRIFIED EACH other (and us!) but did dinosaurs have a softer side? Like most birds and reptiles, dinosaurs laid eggs. Parents made nests and some incubated and protected their offspring before hatching. But after birth, baby dinosaurs soon had to fend for themselves. When parents did look after their young, as commonly occurs in mammals, it likely wasn’t for very long.
Parental care can be inferred by finding dinosaur bones and eggs in close proximity. This sometimes causes naturalists to jump to conclusions, however, as illustrated by a famous case that gave one species an undeserved reputation. In the 1920s, explorer Roy Chapman Andrews (an inspiration for Indiana Jones) went to Mongolia and discovered eggs next to a theropod – a group whose members are often predators.…
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Bbc Wildlife (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024