Did you know that there was a Jurassic period when everyone was not safe from the dreaded dinosaurs? A mammal fossil found in China provides the answer. This fossil dates back to the Jurassic period when the dinosaurs lived. The fossil is of a creature similar to the badgers known today as polar bears and burrowing bears. In size, these mammals did not differ much from today’s badgers. Compared to the size of dinosaurs, these mammals were very small in size.
Dinosaur hunters only the size of a cat
These mammals were on earth about 125 million years ago. The scientific world calls the period when dinosaurs lived as Cretaceous. Researchers say that these creatures hunted dinosaurs that lived by eating leaves and other things. The large dinosaurs of the Jurassic period were dinosaurs that lived by eating leaves and other things. The method of hunting these mammals was to climb on top of them and make large wounds with their teeth to weaken them.
The size of the creature, called Repanomamus robustus, is described by researchers as being about the size of a modern domestic cat. Fossils of these mammals have also been found hunting the bipedal dinosaur Cytocosaurus lugiatunensis. Researchers say that these dinosaurs were the size of a dog.
Small mammals that are predators
The researchers estimate that a volcanic eruption occurred when repanomamuses were hunting dinosaurs and they went underground with their prey. That’s why in the fossil found now, they were found hunting their victims. However, judging by the size of the teeth and claws of these creatures, mammals hunted dinosaurs that were many times larger than the prey found with the fossils. This is evidenced by the bones found in the stomachs of many other fossil repanomammous dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were larger than any living creature at that time. Therefore, the researchers did not count them as prey of other creatures. There is evidence that dinosaurs hunted each other. But this is the first time that a mammal that lived at the same time has been proven to have hunted dinosaurs.
English Summary: Dramatic fossil shows pugnacious mammal attacking a dinosaur
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2023-07-21 10:00:57
