ASTONISHING FOSSIL UNVEILS ANCIENT PREDATOR-PREY ENCOUNTER IN NORTHEAST CHINA

Fri 28 July 2023:

A fossil of a cat-sized mammal called Repenomamus Robustus, which lived during the Cretaceous period and attacked a plant-eating dinosaur called Psittacosaurus, which was three times its size, was discovered. Both species died during the encounter, and their bones have remained undisturbed in the fossil till today.

Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis-Repenomamus robustus pair (WZSSM VF000011) locked in mortal combat. Insets depict (left to right): hand of R. robustus wrapped around lower jaw of P. lujiatunensis, teeth of R. robustus embedded in forearm of P. lujiatunensis, hind foot of R. robustus wrapped around lower hindlimb of P. lujiatunensis. Scale bar equals 10 cm.

The fossil shows Psittacosaurus wrapping its left front paw over R. Robustus’s lower jaw and its left hind paw around the dinosaur’s rear leg. Meanwhile, the teeth of the mammal were embedded in the dinosaur’s ribs.

Jordan Mallon, a paleobiologist from the Canadian Museum of Nature and one of the researchers involved in the study, mentioned that this discovery could challenge the notion that mammals could not attack dinosaurs.

Fossils that provide evidence of interactions between different species and shed light on the predatory behavior of extinct creatures are quite rare.

Mallon further explained that the mammal in the fossil was one of the largest mammals of its time and about the size of a cat.

Life restoration showing Repenomamus robustus grappling with Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis. Artwork by Michael Skrepnick. Reproduced with permission.

It was previously thought that larger dinosaurs preyed on smaller mammals, but this discovery implies that, in times of hunger or desperation, smaller animals could defeat a larger dinosaur.

According to Mallon, the Psittacosaurus was a small, beaked dinosaur that was prevalent in the area at the time. Additionally, he proposed that both animals might have perished in a volcanic eruption before being quickly buried by a mudflow.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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