“We finally know the parentage of the largest known dinosaur eggs,” Dr. Zelenitsky said. The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

These kinds of large dinosaur eggs are known as Macroelongatoolithus eggs, and have also been found in North America. They are typically arranged in a large ring with up to about 30 eggs in a nest. But only the clutch with Baby Louie offered a skeleton that was closely associated with the eggs. It provided the best clues for figuring out what creatures could produce such massive eggs.

Entombed in a large block of rocks, Baby Louie was collected sometime between December 1992 and early 1993 in China. Charlie Magovern, a fossil dealer, came into possession of the rocks and unexpectedly discovered the fossilized fetus bones. In 1996, Baby Louie was featured on the cover of National Geographic, and was named after the photographer for the feature article, Louie Psihoyos.

Baby Louie remained with the fossil dealers until 2001, when they sold it to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. The museum put the fossil on display for about 12 years. During this time an exciting discovery occurred in China: The first giant oviraptorosaur fossil was unearthed in 2007.