Protoceratops nest with embryos curled up inside soft-shelled eggs. By Colin BarrasFifteen years ago, Mark Norell came across a clutch of dinosaur eggs in southern Mongolia.
Frozen in place were at least a dozen embryos of the Triceratops relative Protoceratops. But “something weird” was going on, says the paleontologist, who works at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
It was as if the tiny dinosaurs were curled up inside invisible eggs. In the rock immediately surrounding each mini-skeleton was an enigmatic white halo.