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Sometimes we fail to see what is right in front of us. That is exactly what happened at the Natural History Museum in London.

A mineral specimen that had been sitting nicely in the museum's mineralogy collection for 175 years turned out to be a dinosaur egg. According to the museum, the agate formed inside a 60-million-year-old egg dinosaur.  

This beautifully preserved agate specimen was collected from central India by a man named Charles Fraser and arrived at the museum in 1883, a press release stated.

Egg belonging to titanosaur species

Robin Hansen, a mineral curator at the museum, spotted this unusually spherical agate in the collection. Hansen later brought the specimen to the museum's dinosaur experts, Paul Barrett, and Susannah Maidment, for further examination.

They discovered that the agate features resembled a dinosaur egg in shape, size, and texture. The team used CT scans to look for finer details to determine whether it was an egg or not.

Close examination revealed that the egg belonged to a titanosaur, which roamed in India during the Cretaceous period. The specimen's external texture suggested clutches, confirming the species. This species' eggs were small, and it laid clutches of dozens of eggs rather than a single one. This egg also appeared similar to the titanosaur eggs discovered in China and Argentina.

The team believes the agatized egg formed as a result of volcanic activity in the area. A volcanic eruption could have covered the dinosaur's eggs after they were laid. The silicates may have leached inside the eggshells shortly after, forming the agate.

But how did it get into the mineralogy collection? According to the team, dinosaur eggs were not scientifically recognized at the time, and this could be the first known egg.

“This specimen is a perfect example of why museum collections are so important. It was identified and catalogued correctly as an agate in 1883 using the scientific knowledge available at the time. It is only now that we have recognized that this specimen has something extra special - the agate has infilled this spherical structure, which turns out to be a dinosaur egg,” said Robin in a statement. 

The egg is currently on display in the Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur exhibition.