NEW HAVEN >> Hard to imagine, but those massive reptiles that once roamed the Earth were once tiny little babies hatching out of eggs.
Hard to think about a cuddly little dinosaur (outside of Dino from “The Flintstones”), but now we’re being offered a glimpse of rare dinosaur eggs, embryos and the bones of tiny hatchlings at the Peabody Museum at Yale University, from Saturday until Aug. 30.
Dinosaur eggs weren’t even known about until a surprise find in the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi Desert in 1923. It was then that scientists on the expedition discovered a collection of oval-shaped oddities deep within the sun-baked sandstone. These were the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered.
We’ve all seen the skeletons of these mighty beasts in the Peabody’s Great Hall of Dinosaurs, but these newly unearthed 75-million-year-old eggs showed quite a different look at the lives of dinosaurs: the way they formed as embryos and the look of their tiny skeletal systems. It has given scientists a tool for unraveling the mysteries of the dinosaurs’ life histories.
“Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies” includes life-size models, artwork and more than 150 dinosaur eggs on display. Not only does the exhibit have a lot to teach us about the lives of dinosaurs, but it also shows us some discoveries about their living descendants: birds.
The Peabody Museum is located at 170 Whitney Ave. Hours are 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and noon-5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for senior citizens, $5 for children 3-18 and college students with ID. From September to June, the museum offers free admission on Thursdays from 2-5 p.m.