Fossil origin and body shape characteristics of Sisosaurus

In the past, people always believed that dinosaurs, like today's reptiles, just lay eggs and walk away, regardless of what happens to their children. Later, paleontologists discovered that the teeth of some young dinosaur fossils had obvious signs of wear, indicating that they had begun to eat. However, the limbs of these young dragons are not fully developed, and they have obviously not begun to move independently in the true sense. This seems to indicate that the young dragons are raised by their parents in the nest.

In addition, analysis of dinosaur footprint fossils shows that they often went out in formations, with large dinosaurs on both sides and small dinosaurs in the middle, just like the elephants we see today. However, many people believe that this evidence alone does not prove that dinosaurs purposefully raised their offspring, because no reptile in the world has shown such love. The crocodile is the best at what it does. It just picks up the newly hatched baby crocodiles in its mouth and brings them to the water. Even if the task is completed, it doesn't care whether the baby crocodile can swim or catch prey.

In the summer of 1978, two years before the extraterrestrial extinction theory was proposed, Horner and Makayla discovered Egg Mountain. Now we know that there are three kinds of dinosaurs living on Danshan, namely the hadrosaur-like Matryosaurus, the hypsilodont-like Paosanosaurus and Troodon. There are the largest number of nests of the Mother Dragon, with more than 40 found in an area of 1 square kilometer. The mother dragon builds its nest on high ground, about 2 meters in diameter, in the shape of a basin, with soil and pebbles underneath. Such a nest can be used for many years. During the breeding season, the mother dragon returns to the nest to lay eggs. There are about 25 eggs in each nest, arranged in a circle. The eggs are covered with plants for insulation. At the same time, evidence such as the bones of the baby dragons, regurgitated food, and footprints next to the nest were discovered, indicating that the mother dragons had to carefully take care of their babies for a long time. The bones and joints of these young dragons are in a semi-developed state, so the young dragons cannot move independently and can only rely on the care of their parents. So far, more than 300 Mysaurus skeletons have been discovered, covering all ages, which is of great significance to studying the growth process of dinosaurs.

Nowadays, if you want to visit Danshan, the best way is through the Ancient Road Museum. Because Egg Mountain is desolate and remote, the ground is densely covered with sharp rocks and there are many paths like a maze, so we must have a museum guide to guide us.

At present, the Ancient Road Museum has a full set of excavation courses, including the dinosaur research plan of Danshan Mass Tomb, introduction to dinosaur ecology, paleontology learning, fossil identification, etc. This set of courses has been full every year since its inception, and reservations usually need to be made six months in advance. A reminder is that you must take a photo with the old lady Bulianduo, who was the first discoverer of embryos.

Chinese name: Mother Dragon

Latin name: Maiasaura

Age of survival: Late Cretaceous

Fossil origin: Montana, USA

Physical characteristics: 9 meters long

Diet: plants

Species: Ornithopods

Definition: Good mother lizard

animal tags： Maiasaura