The giant egg, measured at about 28cm long and 18cm wide, seems to belong to a "sea Monster" about 68 million years ago.
According to NPR, in 2018, paleontologist Julia Clarke, a member of the research team, from the University of Texas, USA, visited a colleague named David Rubilar-Rogers at the National Museum of Natural History of Chile. David showed her a mysterious fossil he had collected many years ago in the South. He and his colleagues call it "The thing".
"It looks like the strongest and most robust hyena eggs - but it is the eggs of a real extended family of these animals," said Lucas Legendre, University of Texas, USA, another member of the research team.
The "sea Monster" that produced this egg can be estimated to be 7m long from the tip to the tail. This species, according to a description from Nature's June 17 issue, has been named Antarcticoolithus bradyi.
Based on an analysis of 259 modern reptiles and their eggs, an ancient animal called the ext ext extant giant seaweed (Mosasaurs) appears to match the description, according to SWNS.
"The eggs belong to an individual at least 7m long, a giant reptile," said Legendre.
In addition to the record size, the scientists' findings also challenge the concept of such reptiles not laying eggs.
"An egg with a soft shell almost as complete as a football size is one of the largest eggs ever described," said Julia Clarke.
The fossil egg is also one of the largest animal eggs ever discovered, just behind the eggs of an extinct elephant in Madagascar, according to the NPR.
