by About 120 million years ago, a bird of prey the size of a crow swallowed a mammal as its last meal. Researchers stumbled upon the last supper. microraptorA new study, while examining its fossilized remains at an undisclosed museum in China, reveals it was a carnivorous dinosaur with four wings, like a bird.
Well preserved fossil Microraptor zhaoianus It included the 0.39-inch-long (1-centimeter) foot of a small mammal, possibly a rodent, resting inside the thorax of a small theropod, according to one study. expression (opens in new tab).
Researchers wrote in the study, published Dec. 20 in the US, that the discovery marks the earliest known case of a dinosaur swallowing a mammal. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (opens in new tab).
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” study co-author of the study Hans Larsson (opens in new tab)D., director of the Redpath Museum and a vertebrate paleontologist at McGill University in Montreal. “These finds are the only tangible evidence we have of the food consumption of these long-extinct animals, and they are extremely rare.”
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Prior to this finding, there were only 20 known cases of fossilized remains containing the last meal of a carnivorous dinosaur, according to the statement. This skeleton included Daurlong WangiA bird of prey, also found in China, whose intestines contain “a large, bluish layer on its abdomen.” Among the 20 cases, scientists have only four (excluding this) published instances of stomach contents. microraptor itself.
The new discovery is also the second direct piece of evidence to suggest that theropods (bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs) were a group. Tyrannosaurus rex — swallowed mammals, the researchers wrote in the study.
It microraptorIt was found in Liaoning province in northeastern China’s Jiufotang Formation, whose name means “little looter.” The exact dates of Jiufotang are unknown, but it contains fossils from early periods. Cretaceous period (145 million to 100.5 million years ago), a 2000 study originally described the fossil in the journal Nature (opens in new tab) to create.
“we already know microraptor pieces of fish, a bird and a lizzard “This new finding adds a small mammal to their diet, which brings them to mind,” Larsson said. dinosaurs They were opportunistic and not food pickers.”
“It’s very important to know that they don’t specialize in a particular food,” he added, as this could be the first evidence of a general carnivore that was part of the Cretaceous ecosystem. According to the statement, it could have acted as an “ecosystem stabilizer” like today’s foxes and crows.
“On purpose microraptor It was a generalist carnivore, providing a new perspective on how ancient ecosystems might have worked,” Larsson said, “and a possible insight into the success of these tiny, feathered dinosaurs.”
