Sunday, December 21, 2008

Dinosaur dads played active role in raising young

The LA Times reports:
Dinosaur dads played an active role in raising their young and often served as single parents, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science.

The researchers examined bones belonging to eight dinosaurs that were fossilized in "brooding postures" near clutches of eggs. None of them included medullary bone, a form of bone tissue found in female birds and some female dinosaurs that is mined for calcium when they lay eggs, the researchers reported. ...

Dino daddies may have evolved as active parents because the moms were preoccupied with laying eggs, the researchers wrote.
There were no family courts during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.

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