Parental care in dinosaurs is one of the major areas of study in dinosaur paleontology. Prior to de-extinction, the best pieces of evidence for these behaviors came in the form of nest and egg fossils, though modern-day archosaurs such as birds and crocodilians also provide insight into how their extinct relatives may have cared for their young. The first confirmed dinosaur fossil nests discovered belonged to the hadrosaur Maiasaura, uncovered in Montana in 1978. Fossilized nests belonging to other species have since been identified, and many dinosaur egg fossils are known. What has been discovered by paleontologists suggests that many dinosaur species were dedicated parents, bringing their offspring food and often nesting in large groups for protection. Though parental behaviors varied from one kind of dinosaur to another, there is evidence to imply it was very common, if not universal.
Since the first de-extinct animals were documented breeding naturally, evidence from live specimens has corroborated what paleontologists had begun to suspect in decades prior: like their modern relatives, extinct dinosaurs demonstrate complex parenting behaviors and in many cases provide extended care to their offspring. These behaviors can be observed in virtually all families of Dinosauria.
