"Extra, Extra! Read all about it!" Mrs. Kathy Beck, owner of the Dovetail Gallery in Egg Harbor, has a 70 million year old dinosaur egg on display! The egg still has a Hypselosaurus baby inside, but it will never hatch because it's been fossilized. Seventy million years ago a landslide or flood probably buried the nest and egg. Water, rock and dirt turned to sediment, which kept the egg safe. Later, the sediment turned to stone, water invaded it, and eventually it eroded and revealed dinosaur nesting sites. The egg is brown in color, dented a bit, and looks like papier mache. It is about the size of a large ostrich egg.

"Infinity"

Way back in the "dino-days", the Hypselosaurus lived in the Pyrenees Mountains of France and could grow to be 35 feet long. It was an Herbivore, which meant it ate only plants. The Hypselosaurus species lived on a super continent called Gondwanaland. Gondwanaland was made up of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Hypselosaurus was a relative of the brontosaurus, and the T-Rex was probably its predator. The first Hypselosaurus bones were found in a river by the Pyrenees Mountains in 1869.

Isabelle in front of the Dovetail Gallery

Now, the egg did not just get up and walk over to the Dovetail Gallery all on its own! Archaeologists found the egg and later sold it to Steven Spielberg, producer/director of the movie "Jurassic Park". Mr. Spielberg wanted a special candy to go with the movie, so he sold the egg to a candy maker in Milwaukee, who made a dinosaur-shaped candy. Later, the candy maker died, and a friend of Mrs. Beck's went to the candy maker's widow and asked to buy the egg. The widow said, "Sure, it's just here in a shoebox!", and that's how Mrs. Beck got it into her hands. Being an egg artist, she had always wanted a dinosaur egg!

The Dovetail Gallery

Once Mrs. Beck had the egg, she took it to get a CT scan at a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Inside the Dovetail Gallery, the egg is displayed in a special plastic case. There is also an artist's sketch of the actual CT scan, and it estimates where the baby dinosaur lays inside the egg. A contest was held to name the egg, which is now called "Infinity."

I think you and your family should see the egg because it's a very historic and educational piece. It is not every day you see a 70 million year old dinosaur egg!

- By Isabelle S., Fourth Grader, Appleton, Wis.