Treasure Trove of Fossils Found in Gobi Desert

Scientists have discovered a dramatic fossil trove in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, including some unknown meat-eating dinosaurs and several dinosaur “nurseries” with extremely well-preserved eggs.

The finding represents the best-preserved assemblage of backboned animals ever found from the Cretaceous period, 130 million to 65 million years ago, the American Museum of Natural History said.

The fossils will be “extraordinarily important” for understanding the evolutionary changes from dinosaurs to birds and in shedding light on the early days of mammals, said Michael J. Novacek of the museum, one of the expedition’s leaders.

In just 10 days last July, researchers discovered nearly 100 dinosaur fossils, 175 fossil lizards and skulls and skeletons of 147 very rare mammals, the museum said Monday in a statement.

The fossils, collected from a square-mile site at Ukhaa Tolgod, are thought to be about 80 million years old.