Book 5, Question 8
Egg-cellent Question! Why Did Dinosaurs Lay Eggs?
Dinosaurs laid eggs, just like their living relatives, the birds, and many reptiles. Eggs let a mother lay several babies at once and keep them safe in a nest until they hatch. Fossil eggs and nests give scientists clues about how dinosaur families started.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 5
More fun facts
- No dinosaur gave birth to live young. All dinosaurs laid eggs, just like birds, their living relatives.
- Scientists now think the very first dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs.
- Over time, at least three different dinosaur groups evolved hard-shelled eggs.
- Soft eggs rarely became fossils, which may explain why dinosaur eggs are hard to find.
- Dinosaurs that laid soft eggs probably covered them in nests and watched over the area.
- Some dinosaurs laid only two eggs at a time, more like birds than crocodiles.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Did dinosaurs sit on their eggs?
Some may have. Experts are still looking for clear evidence, but some parents may have stayed with their nests until the babies hatched.