A dinosaur egg that may date back 150 million years had been found in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, local paleontologists announced Monday (Jan. 17th).

Of the nine rocks found by a dirt road near Qiniangshan Mountain on Dapeng Peninsula, eastern Shenzhen, only one had so far been identified as a fossilized dinosaur egg, geological researchers said.

Zhang He, curator of Shenzhen Paleontology Museum, said the fossil looked very much like that of a dinosaur egg, judging from its shape and shell. But he also said a final conclusion would depend on further expert examination.

Other paleontologists believe that if the fossil is a dinosaur egg it will be of great research value.

Kang Zhenjiang, head of Shenzhen Archeologists Association, was surprised at the find. There was a lot of volcanic activity around Qiniangshan Mountain and Wutong Mountain during the Jurrasic and Cretacious eras, which occurred between 97 million and 154 million years ago.

"Because of its geological environment, it is unusual to find dinosaur eggs in the Shenzhen area," Kang said.

However, he also pointed out that this didn't exclude the possibility that there might be lots of dinosaur egg shells in Shenzhen. In the case of the fossilized egg just found in Shenzhen, Kang said it was highly possible that it was a dinosaur egg. Kang echoed Zhang in saying that it would take further tests to confirm the conclusion.

The discovery of the dinosaur egg was accidental. An official with the Shenzhen municipal archeological and mining administration and his friend went on a study tour of Qiniangshan Mountain on Jan. 8 but ended up making a startling discovery.

The two men saw an unusual egg-shaped rock half exposed beside a dirt road. They wondered whether what they saw could be a fossilized dinosaur egg.

No experts themselves, they organized a group of archeologists, paleontologists and journalists and traveled to the site again the next day. Wanting to take a short cut, the group of 10 traveled by boat. However, the boat, with its heavy load, ran aground near its destination.

Everybody disembarked to make the boat lighter, except for the boat crew who sailed off to seek help. Two members of the group set out toward the mountain in an attempt to find the fossil, but the terrain was too difficult and they returned an hour later.

Stranded, the group decided to wait for the boat, which returned in the early evening. Swayed by big waves, it ran aground again, so the boat crew were forced to sail away to get help a second time.

Early the next day, two small fishing boats appeared and were towed to shore by two bigger boats. After the fishing boats moored by the rocks, the group members jumped onto the boats one after the other, and were ferried to larger boats stationed further offshore, which took them back to harbor, 17 hours after they had first set out on the tour.

After breakfast, they drove by jeep for an hour to reach the fossil site. A paleontologist in the group claimed he was 50 percent sure it was a fossilized dinosaur egg but recommended further examination.

Four of the group members stayed with the fossil until five staff members from the city's archeological and mining authorities came and carefully extracted the fossil.

Editor: Catherine