Developments in Brief : Mongolia Yields a Dinosaur Nest

A Soviet-Mongolian paleontological expedition in Mongolia’s Gobi desert has found a dinosaur nest that indicates close links between dinosaurs and modern-day birds, the official Soviet press agency Tass reported last week.

Inside the nest, said to be little more than a shallow hole in the ground, were the remains of eggs that had been arranged upright in several layers and packed in straw-like plant fibers, Tass said.

The eggs showed evidence of having been hatched out rather than broken in by an intruder, said the paleontologists, who were impressed by similarities with modern-day birds’ nests, the news agency said.

Helpless young dinosaurs apparently stayed in the nest for some time after hatching. Scientists also found numerous small bones in the nest, which are thought to be the remains of small animals that served as food for the dinosaurs’ offspring.

The scientists theorized that the dinosaurs when fully grown would have been agile flesh-eaters about one or two yards long.

Numerous paleontologists worldwide have challenged the traditional view that dinosaurs were cold-blooded reptiles and proposed instead that they could have been the warm-blooded ancestors of modern birds.