Scientists in China have discovered a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that is developing from its egg in the same way that a chicken does. The embryo, which has been named Baby Yingliang and is likely to be a toothless theropod dinosaur or oviraptorosaur, was discovered near Ganzhou, China, and is thought to be at least 66 million years old. It is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history,” according to researcher Dr. Fion Waisum Ma. As a result of the discovery, scientists now have a better understanding of the link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The embryo was wrapped in the fossil in a position known as “tucking,” which is a behavior seen in birds shortly before hatching.

Prof. Steve Brusatte, a member of the research team, described it as “one of the most stunning dinosaur fossils” he had ever seen, with the embryo on the verge of hatching. A newborn Yingliang that is 10.6in (27cm) long from head to tail and sleeps inside a 6.7 inch-long egg is on display at the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in China. The egg was discovered in 2000: however, it had been buried for eleven years before being discovered. Only after construction work on the museum began and old fossils were being sorted through did researchers turn their attention to the egg, which they suspected was holding an embryo within.