Microraptor fossil found in China.
A team of paleontologists has found the first evidence of a dinosaur eating a mammal. The fossil is that of a Microraptor, which was studied more than 20 years ago. It was found in the Jiufotang Formation in a western part of China. The team that studied this fossil said it is 120 million years old and found the ribcage still intact. Microraptor, about the size of a crow, had the foot of a small mouse-sized creature inside its ribcage.
The study detailing the reexamination of the fossil has been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
“At first, I couldn’t believe it. There was a tiny rodent-like mammal foot about a centimeter long perfectly preserved inside a Microraptor skeleton. These finds are the only solid evidence we have about the food consumption of these long-extinct animals … and they are exceptionally rare,” vertebrate paleontologist Hans Larsson of McGill University in Canada, who found the fossil, said of the discovery.
Microraptors lived during the Cretaceous period and the studied fossil belongs to Microraptor zhaoianus.
According to National Geographic, Microraptor, which means “little thief” in Greek, was named for being the smallest known species of raptor dinosaur, or dinosaur with bird-like qualities. It is currently the smallest of all known dinosaurs.
The dinosaur had flight feathers on both its forelimbs and hindlimbs, and long arm bones similar to those seen in today’s birds.
Scientists have discovered that Microraptor’s feathers were iridescent, meaning they had a metallic sheen similar to the feathers of modern peacocks and hummingbirds.
Featured video of the day
On CCTV, a man from Karnataka stabs a woman multiple times on the busy road