Researchers at UC Berkeley say they've found dinosaur fossils with a certain type of tissue that is present in modern day birds when they are developing eggs. The finding is significant since dinosaurs are believed to be the ancestors of birds and because the dinosaurs were relatively young when they developed the tissue.
The dinosaurs were as young as 8 with the tissue present, an indication that they reached sexual maturity earlier than previously thought. The researchers say most dinosaurs lived to only about age 30, though some lived to be 60.
A Berkeley researcher says the finding "opens up so many complementary avenues of dinosaur research."
