Dinosaur Egg Found On New York Mantelpiece Gets Scanned In Albany

Talk about a prehistoric patient at one New York hospital.

How a Dinosaur Egg Ended Up at Albany Med

According to News 10, Albany Medical Center had a very unusual visitor this week—a dinosaur egg. In a rare and exciting collaboration, the New York State Museum brought in the fossilized egg for a CT scan, hoping to uncover secrets millions of years in the making.

“This fossil was actually on someone’s mantle, and they didn’t want it anymore,” said Dr. Robert Feranec, Director of Research and Collections at the New York State Museum. “They called us up and said, ‘Hey, do you want a dinosaur?’”

Of course, the answer was yes. So where was the egg from?

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This egg is believed to be from the Hadrosaur family. These type of dinosaurs were often referred to as Duckbill dinosaurs. The dinosaur egg wasn’t the only ancient artifact getting some high-tech medical attention. The team also scanned the skull of the oldest known Giant Beaver specimen in North America, dating back roughly 13,000 years.

“It was about the size of a black bear, up to 220 pounds,” said Feranec. “They did not have incisors that were capable of cutting down trees, also did not have big flat tails like modern beavers.”

 

Did the Scans Reveal a Baby Dino?

The big question on everyone’s mind- Is there a baby inside. That’s exactly what the radiology team at Albany Med was hoping to find out. But initial scans came up inconclusive.

“We’re not really making out any particular structures here,” said Dr. Michael Shuster. “It’s all very dense… maybe there’s a bone in there, but I can’t really make anything out.”

Dr. Cody Shuster, who performed the scans, noted there are more advanced options for analysis. The scans will be studied further, and we may finally get an answer to the question millions of years in the making- what's inside?