True love never dies.
At least, that's one way to look at the fossilized oviraptor couple that Mongolian paleontologists recently unearthed. The remains, found in the Gobi Desert, include one male and one female oviraptor, locked in an eternal embrace more than 75 million years ago.
The researchers studying the fossils believe the dinosaurs were killed by a sand dune collapse while embracing one another after engaging in sexual intercourse. And the find is more than just a touching love story: It could provide new insight about gender variations in dinosaurs.
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Scott Persons, a paleontologist at the University of Alberta and the lead author of the research, explained to Phys.org that it's difficult for scientists to figure out a dinosaur's gender from fossil evidence, since "soft anatomy seldom fossilizes." But since modern birds, the descendants of dinosaurs, often have visual cues, such as peacock fans or rooster crests, as to which gender they are, the scientists believe oviraptors could have also displayed physical gender differences.
Oviraptors had long tail feathers, but they were only land animals and couldn't fly. The researchers believe the feathers were used for courtship and in mating dances, and the fossil seems to corroborate the theory. Persons' study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, explains that the two dinosaurs in the fossilized embrace had different tail bones, suggesting one was male and one was female.
The scientists even nicknamed the dinosaurs "Romeo and Juliet," since their relationship was apparently doomed. Rest in peace, buddies.
