While there is little doubt that many a Mesozoic mammal became a meal for a dinosaur, it may come as a surprise to learn that some mammals also dined on dinos.
A dramatic fossil unearthed in northeastern China shows a pugnacious badger-like mammal in the act of attacking a plant-eating dinosaur, mounting its prey and sinking its teeth into its victim's ribs about 125 million years ago, scientists said on Tuesday.
Most mammals during the Mesozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs, were shrew-sized bit players in the larger theater of life, doing well to avoid becoming someone else's lunch. Repenomamus shows at least some mammals gave as good as they got. Examining the fossil was like a crime scene analysis. Repenomamus is perched atop the prone Psittacosaurus, gripping the jaw and hind leg while biting into the ribcage. Repenomamus measures 1-1/2 feet long. Psittacosaurus is 4 feet long. Both are thought to be not quite full adults.
The researchers discounted the idea that the Repenomamus and Psittacosaurus fossil showed a mammal merely scavenging a carcass. While Psittacosaurus was an early relative of the horned dinosaur lineage, it lacked facial horns and a head crest. It possessed a parrot-like beak to crop plant material.
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