Dino crew: While approaching the edge of a lake in what is today the Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia, a herd of young Sinornithomimus found itself hopelessly trapped in mud some 90 million years ago. The discovery supports the idea that juvenile dinosaurs formed herds.
Credit: Todd Marshall
Palaeontologists had suspected that juveniles formed herds before, but this is the most compelling evidence yet found for the theory. “We think we’ve found a smoking gun, the site that preserves a juvenile or immature herd, out wandering on their own,” Sereno said.
Steve Salisbury, a palaeontologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, said that the find is exciting because of its potential to reveal dinosaur behaviour
“Most information about [dinosaur] social behaviour comes from trackways,” he said, referring to the fossilised footprints left by stampeding animals. “But without bones, it’s hard to tell about ages.”
