Cuckoo eggs in the dinosaur nest?
Many of the "dinosaur eggs" found so far in southern France may actually have been laid by ostrich-like birds. This suspicion is raised by new fossil finds in the region in question. The large bones now discovered are believed to be among the oldest flightless birds remains found. The rock from the Upper Cretaceous period, which is located in the Languedoc vineyards, was long known for the fossil eggs found there, which were up to 20 centimeters in size. Because of the size, it was assumed that they could be dinosaur eggs. Until now it was assumed that such large flightless birds could not have evolved before the extinction of the dinosaurs left their ecological niche.
Eric Buffetaut of the Université de Bourgogne and Jean Le Loeuff of the Musée des Dinosaures in Espéraza now believe their discovery of some 72-million-year-old bones proves that a large flightless bird existed as early as the time of the dinosaurs have. The wide and heavy pelvis is connected with 10 lower dorsal vertebrae fused together. That's more vertebrae than have been found in any bird-like dinosaur to date. But the number of vertebrae is similar to that of some Cretaceous birds - just as they are similar in size to the bones of today's ostriches. So now there's a new name in the bird world: the scientists named the newly discovered bird Gargantuavis philoinos. And at around 141 kg, it can certainly be described as a "major discovery".
The assumptions of the scientists are regarded as plausible in the professional world. Mike Benton, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, pointed out that not many species of dinosaurs actually existed in the area where the fossils were found. He thinks that "more different types of eggs occur in this region than there were types of dinosaurs." Furthermore, he adds, "Molecular biologists have only recently told us that a lot of bird species evolved much earlier than previously Assumed reason for fossils.”
