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The Dilemma: Which comes first, the dinosaur or the
egg?
Until the recent Chinese discoveries, only four dinosaur eggs contained embryos that have been positively identified with a known dinosaur. Terry Manning’s three-and-a-half-inch round egg (bottom) contains an embryo identified as a therizinosaur. But Charlie and Flo Magovern’s 18-inch egg (left) seems to also contain a therizinosaur! How can two completely different eggs contain animals of the same family? Philip Currie believes the two eggs and their embryos, which were featured in his May 1996 GEOGRAPHIC article, have done nothing but confuse researchers who have relied on a standard egg classification system. “There just aren't enough eggs with identifiable embryos inside to help identify the animals. The differences between Baby Louie's egg,” he laments, “and the round therizinosaur eggs are profound.” |
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The paradox may be solved when Baby Louie’s
siblings are uncovered. But whatever the outcome, it appears that the
standard by which eggs are set apart (including shell size, texture, and
structure, among other unique features) has cracks in it.
The differences between the two models? Baby Louie is larger, lies stretched out in the long egg with his knees drawn to his chest. He has a different skin pattern and coloration to set him apart from Cooley’s other therizinosaur model. Cooley also removed some of Baby Louie’s egg white when it reflected light during the photo sessions. |
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