Jurassic dinosaurs shared herd mentality: Patagonian Fossils reveal

Fossils were recently discovered in Argentina’s Patagonia that prove that dinosaurs of Jurassic age shared a complex and structured herd mentality where adults nurtured their young ones and lived in a communal nesting ground. Among the fossils unearthed, 100 dinosaur eggs and bones along with a score of complete skeletons were found that specifically belonged to a plant-eating species called Mussaurus Patagonicus that lived 193 million years ago. They were bipedal, small headed but long-necked and as adults had evolved into giants.

Their fossils were first discovered in 1970s by Jose Bonaparte and more recently in 2013. The herd structure developed among Jurassic dinosaurs around 40 million years ago and their nesting sites have been traced in parts of North and South America, Africa and China.

The recent results have been published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’ by palaeontologist Diego Pol of the National Museum of Argentina. He has even stated the pre-historic species as “social animals” as the placement of their fossils revealed group behaviour. Previous evidence of dinosaurs’ herd mentality was detected to be from 150 million years ago.