Dinosaur Egg Detectives Cracking the Case

 

Although dinosaur eggs were first identified in the 1920s, their scientific significance was not fully appreciated until the end of the 20th century. Today, dinosaur eggs are recognized for their enormous scientific value - for offering fascinating details and fresh insights into the behavior, growth, and evolution of dinosaurs.

The hunt for dinosaur eggs, nests, and young has intensified in recent years as modern paleontologists pursue these fossil treasures with new enthusiasm and purpose. How do they know a dinosaur egg when they find it? And where do they look?

Part 1 - The Earliest Discoveries

On July 13, 1922, near the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia, George Olson, a fossil preparator from New York's American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), discovered what he believed to be a dinosaur egg.

At dinner that evening in camp he reported his discovery to the other members of the expedition who were skeptical and passed it off thinking they could only be sand concretions. The next day, Paleontologist, Walter Granger, definitely identified them as eggs. Roy Chapman Andrews, head of the expedition and showman as he was, declared they must be dinosaur eggs. Andrews publicized and filmed the find and was credited as the first explorer from the United States to discover dinosaur eggs. He was overwhelmed by how much public interest there was in dinosaur eggs. He was, however, not the world's first discoverer or admirer of dinosaur eggs. Early man and women drilled holes in dinosaur eggshells and used them for adornment.