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Oviraptor |
Kingdom |
Animalia (animals) |
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Chordata (animals with spinal nerve cords) |
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Vertebrata (chordates with backbones) |
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Archosauria ("ruling reptiles") |
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Dinosauria (extinct reptiles "terrible lizards') |
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Saurischia (lizard-hipped) |
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Theropoda (beast-footed) |
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Coelurosauridae (bird-like theropods) |
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Oviraptor (egg-robber) |
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unknown at this time |
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Meet Baby Louie
About 65 million years ago in what is now Henan Province, China, a dinosaur egg was just about to hatch.
Sometime before, the mother probably scooped out a wide, shallow nest, then laid her eggs two at a time in a circular pattern in as many as three layers. Finally, she settled down on top of the nest, spreading her arms out to keep it warm and safe from predators.
But something went wrong.
Perhaps something scared the mother and she trampled the nest. Maybe a predator tried to steal the eggs. Scientists who've studied the specimen say it looks as if Baby Louie was stepped on and crushed.
Some scientists think Baby Louie died while hatching. Others believed it died while still in the egg.
 However it happened, soon after Baby Louie died the 7-foot wide nest, filled with eggs, was covered by floodwaters carrying silt and sand. Baby Louie fossilized with its bones surprisingly intact.
Today, Baby Louie is a "star" dinosaur specimen. Scientists continue to study Baby Louie and two other eggs in the nest. They are trying to determine if there are little fossilized bones in those eggs as well.
 Recently paleontologists identified a fossilized bone from Baby Louie's skull as part of a lower jaw. The bone is shaped like a beak without teeth and is similar to the lower jaw of the group of dinosaurs that includes Oviraptor. Some scientists believe Baby Louie is from an unknown species of very large Oviraptors.
Oviraptors were carnivores, which means they ate meat instead of plants. They lived in the Late Cretaceous Period and were found in Central Asia.
Interesting Things About Baby Louie
 The remains of most baby dinosaurs are jumbled piles of fossilized bones. Baby Louie's fossilized bones are intact and lying in the same position as they would have been in life (scientists call this articulated). This is an extremely rare find. In fact, Baby Louie is the only known articulated dinosaur embryo.
Did dinosaur mothers sit on their nests? Did they raise their young? How were they related to modern birds? These are questions to which Baby Louie may be able to provide answers.
Baby Louie's Discovery
 Baby Louie was excavated from the ancient rocks of the Shiguo Formation in the Henan Province of China.
In 1994, Charlie Magovern discovered Baby Louie while working on a large egg block from China in his preparation laboratory. He named Baby Louie after photographer Louie Psihoyos who photographed the embryo for the May 1996 issue of National Geographic Magazine.
Charlie spent years using a stereoscopic microscope and small needles to free Baby Louie's tiny fossilized bones from the rock.
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