While birds, crocodilians and many dinosaurs laid hard-shelled eggs, the Antarctic egg had a soft, parchment-like shell. "This new egg is the very first fossil egg from Antarctica, and the largest soft-shelled egg ever discovered," said University of Texas paleontologist Lucas Legendre, lead author of the research published in the journal Nature. The fossil challenges the notion that these animals did not lay eggs and were fully viviparous, giving birth to live young. The egg had no embryonic remains and the mother's skeleton was not found to identify what animal laid it. People hike during an expedition on Seymour Island in Antarctica in this picture taken in 2011, when the egg was found.

Source: CBC News June 19, 2020 16:07 UTC