- A man looks at what is believed to be fossilised dinosaur eggs at a site in Russia's volatile Chechnya region April 14, 2012. The find was uncovered when a construction crew was blasting through a hillside
GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) - Geologists in Russia's volatile Chechnya region have discovered what they believe to be fossilised dinosaur eggs laid by one of the huge extinct reptiles that roamed the Earth more than 60 million years ago .
"We've found about 40 eggs so far, the exact number has not been established," said Said-Emin D zhabrailov, a geologist at the Chechen State University.
"There could be many more laying under the ground."
The find was uncovered when a construction crew was blasting through a hillside to build a road near the region's border with former Soviet Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains.
A team of geologists stumbled across the smooth, oval rock-like forms, which range from 25 cm to one meter coincidentally on a recent trip to the area, said Dzhabrailov.
He said paleontologists were needed to determine which species of dinosaur had laid them.
Dzhabrailov said that the regional Chechen government, which is eager to shed the region's reputation for violence, is considering turning the area into a nature preserve and seeking to attract tourists.
Federal forces fought two separatists wars between 1994-2001 in Chechnya, and an Islamist insurgency persists in the mostly Muslim region an d surrounding provinces of Russia's North Caucasus.
However, violence has declined under the strong-arm rule of Ramzan Kadyrov, whose multi-million dollar construction projects are aimed at raising the region's profile and boosting the tourism potential of the troubled area.
(Writing By Thomas Grove, editing by Paul Casciato)
File photo shows dinosaur eggs on display at a natural science museum in China. Researchers have said that egg size is constricted by upper limits to the thickness of shells, which have to allow oxygen through to the embryo
File photo shows dinosaur eggs on display at a natural science museum in China. The fact that land-bound dinosaurs laid eggs is what sealed their fate of mass extinction millions of years ago while live birthing mammals went on to thrive, scientists said Wednesday
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