Something went terribly wrong as this ancient ichthyosaur was giving birth, and she died along with her offspring
Discovered: South Majiashan, China, 2011
Age: 248 million years
Location: Anhui Geological Museum, China
Birth is a dangerous process, and for this very ancient ichthyosaur mother it went terribly wrong. She was carrying at least three offspring. One was found under the mother's body. The third was still inside her, waiting to be born. And the second was half-way out of the birth canal, making this fossil unique.
Only part of the mother was found because the team that collected the rock in 2011 had no idea it contained ichthyosaurs – they were after a predatory fish. The ichthyosaurs were discovered only in 2012 when the fish fossil was being prepared in the lab and by this time it was too late to ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.
