They had variable beak shapes and diets and ranged in size from modern turkeys at the lower end to massive Gigantoraptors, that were eight metres (26 feet) long.īaby Yingliang measures about 27cm (10.6 inches) long from head to tail and lies inside a 17cm- (6.6 inch)-long egg at the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum. Oviraptorosaurs, which means “egg thief lizards”, were feathered dinosaurs that lived in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period.

Oviraptorosaurs were feathered dinosaurs that lived in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period Forgotten in storage “This indicates that such behaviour in modern birds first evolved and originated among their dinosaur ancestors,” said Ma.Īn alternative to tucking might have been something closer to what is seen in modern crocodiles, which instead assume a sitting posture with the head bending upon the chest up to hatching. Chicks preparing to hatch tuck their head under their right wing in order to stabilise the head while they crack the shell with their beak.Įmbryos that fail to tuck have a higher chance of dying after a hatching that is unsucessful. In birds, the behaviour is controlled by the central nervous system and called “tucking”. Ma and colleagues found Baby Yingliang’s head lay below its body, with the feet on either side and back curled – a posture that was previously unseen in dinosaurs, but similar to modern birds.

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