Nest of dinosaur eggs found in India

TAMIL NADU, India, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Geologists in Tamil Nadu, India, said a trove of dinosaur eggs was peeping out of the sand beds on grazing land in plain sight as they walked by.

The site is part of an area rich in ancient organisms dating back 140 million years, geologists told The Times of India.

"We found clusters and clusters of spherical eggs of dinosaurs. And each cluster contained eight eggs," M.U. Ramkumar, geology lecturer of the Periyar University, said.

He said each egg was about 5 to 8 inches in diameter. They were lying in sandy nests of about four feet.

The clusters of eggs were under volcanic ash from the Deccan eruptions. Scientists have long thought the Deccan eruptions were a reason for extinctions in the area.

The eggs, which may be 65 million years old, were from both the Carnosaur, an aggressive, predatory dinosaur, and Sauropods, long-necked herbivores that became extremely large. Fossils of these reptiles were found on earlier expeditions but this is the first time so many nests and so many clusters of eggs were found, the newspaper said.

The eggs were sent to Germany for further study. The area where they were found is cordoned off to discourage vandalism.