Scientists have discovered that some dinosaurs have colored, spotted and dotted eggs and are characterized by exquisite blue and brown shapes, in a discovery that may contradict the idea that some of these unusual features have arisen with birds.
An analysis of 12 dinosaur egg shells from Europe, Asia and South America, the same colors found in colored bird eggs, was observed in a group of dinosaurs called yumanerapturan, which include dinosaurs known as meat eaters such as filosiraptor and small feather dinosaurs that are the ancestors of birds.
"We discovered that egg color is not a distinctive feature of birds in our time, but it evolved in its predecessors from non-flying dinosaurs," said Yale Jasmina and Yemin, a paleontologist at Yale University, who led the study team published in the journal Nature.
"Our study drastically changed our understanding of the evolution of egg color and adds the color of dinosaur nests in the real Jurassic world."
Birds evolved from dinosaurs in the Jurassic period. The oldest known bird is Archipopteryx and lived about 150 million years ago in Germany.
The dinosaurs eumaneraptoran, part of a larger group of carnivorous dinosaurs with feet, were generally small and resembling birds and covered with colorful feathers.
