Time inevitably brings new scientific discoveries to light, unlocking some mysteries and creating new ones. In 1998, more than 5 years after "Baby Louie" was first discovered, new clues to its identity began to emerge. Perhaps the most irrefutable discovery was made in New York City in Dr. Mark Norell's office at the AMNH. Magovern was there to deliver a cast of "Baby Louie" that he was donating to the museum. Norell went to a drawer and pulled out an identical match to one of "Baby Louies" bones that had previously puzzled scientists and defied identification. The bone was a lower jaw of an oviraptor-type dinosaur from Mongolia.

This new information led to the development of a new "life-like" model of the dinosaur chick "Baby Louie". The new version was created by paleo-sculptor, Gary Staab of Golden, Colorado. He studied the actual "Baby Louie" skeleton and compared it with the appearance and habits of modern flightless birds such as emus and ostriches. His version of "Baby Louie" is a feathered oviraptor-type dinosaur.

Ongoing research by Darla Zelenitsky, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, added more evidence that the giant elongated eggs "Baby Louie" hatched from were laid by an immense oviraptor-type dinosaur much larger than any known previously. She studied characteristics of the eggs such as shape, size, ornamentation, and eggshell structure. She compared them with similar, though smaller, eggs found in Mongolia by Dr. Norell. This new evidence appears conclusive that "Baby Louie's" parents were the largest species of oviraptorids ever. No adult fossil remains have yet been found in China that even approach the size of these giant bird-like dinosaurs.

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Courtesy of StoneCompany.com

A pair of giant 18 inch long elongated dinosaur eggs, the size dinosaur eggs

"Baby Louie" hatched from.

 

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Courtesy of StoneCompany.com

closeup view of eggshell found on

"Baby Louie's" dinosaur eggs