A surprising lunch of cat-sized dinosaurs has been discovered in a 120-million-year-old Microraptor fossil.but Fossils were first described in 2000it hid an interesting historical secret. A reanalysis of the fossil found mammalian foot bones within the ribcage of a raptor.This is the first evidence that dinosaurs ate mammals.
discover, Described Tuesday in the Journal of Paleovertebratesbased on previous research Microraptor Zianus A fossil found in the Jiufudang Formation in western China. The fossil is missing the middle part of the body, but the ribcage is visible, and inside he had the perfectly preserved bones of his tiny right leg, less than half an inch long.
Microraptor, a three-toed carnivorous dinosaur that lived in the trees of ancient Earth, is one of the smallest dinosaurs ever discovered. Fossils of various species of Microraptor show long feathers on each limb, which may have been used for gliding.
As you might imagine, eating doesn’t usually result in a well-preserved fossil. Chewing, chewing, and further digestion usually leaves little trace of the meal. However, scientists have a pretty good idea of Microraptor’s diet, thanks to undigested fossils remaining in its stomach.
Birds, fish, and squamous animals, classes of animals that include lizards and snakes, have all been discovered before, but new discoveries offer a more complete picture of what traveled down the esophagus during prehistoric digestion. It helps you draw.
“It’s so rare to find examples of food inside a dinosaur’s body that all the examples are from theirs,” said David Horn, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University in London and the study’s lead author. This is very important because it gives direct evidence of what was being eaten.
Scientists know that Microraptor had a leg in its stomach, but they don’t know which species it belonged to. The slender fingers resemble a small extinct mammal similar to a possum. Sinodelphis or more mouse-like EomaiaHowever, the fingers are not long enough to be one of these species.
Another open question is whether Microraptor preyed on mammals, or just scavengeed for their feet. It’s impossible to say with this fossil, but some scientists believe that Microraptor’s feathered limbs allowed the species to slide from branches to the ground and prey on land-dwelling species. The size of the mammal’s foot suggests that the organism was within the expected size range for Microraptor prey.
This amazing fossil builds on previous evidence that these tiny, three-fingered dinosaurs ate just about anything in their vicinity, and may even have eaten plants at times.
