Falling Light Nearly Scrambles 65-Million-Year-Old Eggs

They survived for 65 million years, from the late Cretaceous period in China, before being transported to the Museum of Science in Boston. Then, the largest dinosaur egg fossils ever displayed in the West came within inches of being struck by a falling television spotlight.

“I don’t think I thought. I think I felt--fear,” said museum President David W. Ellis, who was standing by the eggs at Thursday’s news conference when the light fell.

The metal-cased light mostly hit the rim of a display case and there was no apparent damage to the fossils.

“Thank God that’s what took the brunt of the fall, not the egg itself,” Ellis said.

The 16 1/2-inch-long eggs were added to the museum’s “The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park” exhibit, which introduces people to dinosaur science, piggybacking on the popularity of the hit movie “Jurassic Park.”

The eggs, part of a group of 50 recently discovered in China’s Henan Province, are the biggest ever found, said Don Lessem, founder of the Dinosaur Society, which organized the exhibit and promotes dinosaur research and education.

Proceeds from the traveling exhibit, which is expected to raise $1 million, will be used for dinosaur study at that site and others.