The surprising discoveries hiding in dinosaur eggs
Dr. Kimi Chapelle
Palaeontologists have discovered the world's oldest dinosaur eggs outside Clarens in the Free State, South Africa. Inside the eggs are complete, tiny baby dinosaurs. Kimi has digitally reconstructed every bone in these fossilised embryos to study them. She found that the pattern in which bones developed in baby dinosaur skulls is similar to that of most animals today. Remarkably, this pattern has remained unchanged for 250 million years! Kimi's babies have taught us that evolution does not mess with a good thing.
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Kimi is a vertebrate palaeontologist studying dinosaur growth and development. Her research focuses on basal sauropodomorphs, the ancestors of well-loved giants like Diplodocus. She explores how these creatures grew, moved, and evolved. Kimi holds a DSI-NRF GENUS Next Generation Palaeoscientist Grant. She completed her Ph.D. at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2019. She recently completed a Kalbfleisch Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Twitter: @Kimi_Chap