KOMPAS.com – An international team of researchers has found the first evidence dinosaur who eats mammals. This was revealed after researchers re-examined fossils found more than 20 years ago.
First find of evidence dinosaurs eat mammals was later published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Quoted from physicist, Thursday (12/22/2022) this study builds on the fossil record Microraptor zhaoianus in 2000 which was discovered in the Jiufotang Formation in western China.
At the time, the research team dated the fossil to around 120 million years ago and noted that the fossil was missing most of its core, but the ribs were intact.
Microraptor was a three-toed carnivorous dinosaur native to the Early Cretaceous Period.
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They lived in trees and were very small compared to other dinosaurs. About the size of a modern house cat.
Some Microraptor species had feathers that they may have used to glide down from perches in trees.
In a repeat study, researchers discovered something interesting dinosaur fossils Microraptor, or evidence of the existence of other fossils that belong to small mammals.
A small fossilized mammalian foot was found just behind the rib cage, evidence that the larger dinosaur Microraptor had preyed on mammals the size of mice.
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In previous studies, researchers had noted that other small creatures had been eaten by dinosaurs, such as snakes, scalemates and birds, but they had never shown any evidence of eating mammals.
The lack of mammalian remains found in the stomachs of dinosaur fossils is likely due to their rarity and not an indication that mammals were a scarce food.
In addition, the researchers also studied mammalian foot remains found in Microraptor. But so far they have not been able to identify what kind of mammal.
They noted that the mammal’s feet were found to have slender toes similar to those of modern opossums but shorter.
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The researchers also examined whether dinosaurs actively chased and ate mammals or simply encountered them while foraging for food.
But the researchers noted that if Microraptor had some sort of wing it would allow it to swoop down and catch small creatures like those found in its gut.
This matches the team’s analysis. Reported by Gizmodo, the team found that the tiny creatures weren’t very good climbers.
“The feet of the mammals found appear to be completely intact and therefore would be an indication that they were swallowed by Utah. But how many mammals were ingested is not known but there were many other unidentified bones around the legs on the ribs so I suspect Microraptor ate more mammals,” said Hans Larsson, a McGill University paleontologist and lead author of the study.
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