A million year old pterosaur preseved eggs discovered in China

Beijing : For eggs to remain intact and preserved for millions of years sounds impossible but researchers in China have discovered several hundred ridiculously well-preserved pterosaur eggs with some still containing the remains of embryos.

"My first thought was extreme jealousy," said David Unwin, a pterosaur expert and paleobiologist at the University of Leicester. "Really."

The latest finding of pterosaur eggs has been published in a recent edition of the journal Science.

Who are pterosaurs?

Pterosaurs were the flying reptiles who are believed to be extinct from Earth 66 million years ago. Though they do not belong to the dinosaur family, their extinction came at a similar time duration. Along with bats and birds, they are the only vertebrates to truly fly.

The latest discovery!

Out of several egg fossils unearthed from the land of China, scientists have managed to pull out six intact, well-preserved eggs which managed to survive despite being crushed under younger sediments.

According to the new research, a site in China's Turpan-Hami Basin in Xinjiang has coughed up 215 beautiful, pliable and miraculously three-dimensional eggs – 16 of which contain embryonic remains.

The researchers also suspect there could be as many as 300 more eggs within the same sandstone block.