Dinosaurs doting parents

New Scientist;" A fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised their young after hatching. Previously discovered fossils of teeth found at the same site in China from Allosaurus dinosaurs of differing ages, and fossils of groups of young Maiasaura have hinted that dinosaurs may have indulged in parental care. But what makes this 125-million-year old fossil find from Liaoning province more convincing is that the skeletons are complete, and crowded together in life-like positions with their legs tucked under and heads raised, indicating that they were buried alive rather than swept together after death. Psittacosaurus are herbivorous dinosaurs, about one metre long, with parrot-like beaks and cheek horns. The newly unearthed juveniles are about a quarter of the length of the adult, and far bigger than hatchlings. This suggests that the adult had tended them for some time, says David Varricchio of Montana State University in Bozeman, US, who examined the ancient remains with Jinyuan Liu of the Dalian Natural History Museum, China, and colleagues. “It looks like a creche,” says Chris Daniels, an evolutionary biologist at Adelaide University, Australia. “It would be unlikely that one or two adults could provide food for so many youngsters.” Caring for young in creches is a type of parenting behaviour seen in animals such as Emperor penguins in which a few adults tend chicks from several families, while the parents collect food. Birds and crocodilians, which also invest time and effort raising their offspring, share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, so the new finding suggests that sophisticated parenting is an ancient behaviour that evolved just once in these animals, rather than twice."

I found this to be quite a pleasure to read, why because it goes to show that it don't matter what type of animal you are. You still have a great need as a parent of your off-spring to protect and feed them. Also we really don't know that much about things in our past but what we find thru diggs and research. And the fact that they are always finding new facts makes it worth reading to me. I hope you enjoyed reading it also.