Researchers identify dinosaur species that roosted like modern birds` 70 million years ago

New Delhi: Researchers have identified a new dinosaur species in The Gobi Desert that roosted together like modern birds about 70 million years ago, says a report.

New remains from the region suggest that at least some dinosaurs likely roosted together to sleep, quite possibly as a family, much like many modern birds do today, researchers said.

This new evidence for dinosaur roosting stems from a confiscated fossil block that was illegally exported from Mongolia, which preserved the remains of three juvenile dinosaurs known as oviraptorids (part of the bird line of dinosaur evolution), they said.

These three dinosaurs represent the same species that were roughly the same age, preserved in a sleeping posture, so close to each other that they would have been touching in life.
Known as "communal roosting", this behaviour is seen in many birds today including chickens and pigeons.

"It is a fantastic specimen. It is rare to find a skeleton preserved in life position, so having two complete individuals and parts of a third is really incredible," said Gregory Funston of the University of Alberta in Canada.

(With PTI inputs)