Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH WILKERSON RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP) LENGTH: Medium
Scientists at the University of Virginia Medical Center used computed tomography to scan the innards of two fossilized dinosaur eggs, hoping to find out what was inside.
The mystery remains. The scanner images were inconclusive, at best.
``It would have been nice, obviously, to see a little baby dinosaur tucked up in a fetal position,'' said paleontologist Nicholas C. Fraser, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.
``Dinosaur eggs are relatively common, but to get embryos in there is very, very rare indeed.''
Fraser had hopes of finding the first known embryo of a sauropod.
The eggs are recent gifts to the UVa branch of the museum from medical school alumnus Dr. Henry Rowe of Gloucester Point. They are believed to be from China's Henan province.
``We're trying to find out what we really have here,'' said Linda Seaman, associate director of the UVa branch museum.
The fossils look like rounded, rough-surfaced river rocks, one about 6 inches by 7 inches and attached to rock, the other a bit smaller and flatter.
There are thousands of fossilized dinosaur eggs around, said Fraser, many of them coming out of China. ``They fetch quite a price.''
Fraser said the eggs could be from the Jurassic period (200 million to 130 million years ago) or from the Cretaceous period (130 million to 65 million years ago).
Only three or four dinosaur species have been found in embryonic form, he said.
Dr. James Brookeman, a UVa radiologist, said the eggs were scanned during the weekend, when the computed tomography equipment wasn't needed by patients, and during a 20-minute gap between patients Tuesday. He said he hoped to use the dinosaur egg images to help educate schoolchildren about X-ray technology.
by CNB