How can you tell if an eggshell fragment is from an egg that actually hatched rather than was pulverized? (examples inside)

[aviform]

A long time ago, I came across a picture claiming to be an eggshell from an egg with evidence of hatchling behavior.

 

It looked fairly legitimate - it does really look like the behavior of a small creature pecking out of the shell since the crack is focused on such a small point. My question is, is it possible to tell on smaller or larger eggshell fragments?

Take smaller fragments that have cracks running across them like this one:

 

or large entire portions of the egg like this one:

 

 

What would likely indicate a shell fragment was pulverized by the elements, crushed by hatchling feet, or was actually cracked during the hatching process?

[Fossildude19]

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[Fossildude19]

As far as your question:

I'm not sure there is a way to tell whether eggshells were from a hatched egg or fragments from crushing, extraction of the fossil, or the fossilization process itself.  

 

Unless there is a photo of the eggshells in situ, then it is really just  a marketing ploy. Eggshells are eggshells. 

Possibly a Paleontologist or Forensic specialist could figure it out, but I seriously doubt any retailer is going to employ one to identify eggshell bits, and whether they were from hatched eggs or unhatched eggs. 

 

Is having an eggshell from a hatched dino egg really  any different than having an eggshell from an unhatched egg? 

[Mark Kmiecik]

If you can tell it's an eggshell it hasn't been pulverized, since pulverized means "to turn into powder". If the shell is entirely intact, even though cracked, then it's almost certainly not hatched. I would say anything between these two extremes is anybody's guess. It's kind of like the tree falling in the forest and making a noise. Both views can be supported, but neither can be proven.

[aviform]

Alright, got it. As far as there being a difference - not really, and aside from the first picture I linked that I saw years ago, no seller has claimed a shell fragment is from a hatched egg. It's only, since seeing that particular fragment, it seems to me like it'd be nice to have a fossil that proved that something once started life rather than that something once died.

 

I had wondered if it's something that could even be discerned or guessed at based on whether or not the cracks originated from inside, the likely pressure it took to make the crack, how deep the crack is while the shell is held together, etc. It's just something I've been wondering since seeing that first one. I know in the case of larger eggs the "hatching window" is a good indicator.

 

@Mark Kmiecik

@Fossildude19

[Mark Kmiecik]

By the process of elimination, the ones that contain bones most probably didn't hatch. Of course the egg may have hatched but then the hatchling died or was killed and never quite exited. There's just way too many scenarios to consider. Shtuff happens, and back then there was a lot of shtuff happening, all of the time.  The "hatching window" in larger eggs may only be a hole through which something else ate the contents of the egg. Since we didn't witness the occurrence we can only speculate as to what occurred. The shell may have been broken before the bones started forming. Takes 9 days before ossification begins in chicken eggs. How long did it take in dinosaur eggs? We are still a long way from those answers.