2023-07-25 09:00:36
Artist’s impression of prehistoric combat — © Michael Skrepnick
Chinese paleontologists have unearthed an amazing fossil in eastern China. Dating from the Lower Cretaceous, this one shows a dinosaur and a mammal in full combat.
Psittacosaurus vs Repenomamus
At the time of dinosaursthe first ones mammals were basically small creatures that squeezed through the scaly legs of these giant creatures. But a growing number of studies have shown that our distant ancestors were not only ” appetizers for prehistoric reptiles.
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Described in the review Scientific Reportsand fossil excerpt from the Yixian geological formation shows a Psittacosaurusa Labrador-sized dinosaur, and a Let’s repeat itmammal the size of a badger, locked in a deadly embrace.
The dinosaur is lying on its right side, with its neck and tail curled to the left. The mammal is sitting on top of him, its teeth sunk between its ribs. The left foreleg of the Let’s repeat it grabs the reptile’s lower jaw, moving it slightly, while his left hind paw grips his opponent’s left shin, his own paw pinned under the dinosaur’s.
Remains of the enchevêtres of R. robustus and Psittacosaurus — © Gang Han
Given the position of the two animals and the lack of other bite marks on the dinosaur’s bones, researchers believe the two prehistoric creatures were buried under a volcanic mudslide in the middle of a fight.
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Precedents
This is not the first fossilized fight scene dating from the Cretaceous described by paleontologists. In the 1970s, a similar testimony, involving a velociraptor and a protoceratops, had been unearthed in the Gobi desert. The sharp claw of the raptor was planted in the neck of the protoceratops, which had meanwhile closed its beaked jaws on the arm of its enemy, breaking it.
While the recent Chinese discovery may be less impressive, it does reveal entirely new interactions between mammals and dinosaurs, suggesting that some of these furry creatures have survived in a world dominated by reptiles.
— © Michael Skrepnick
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