Science – Mammalian attack on much larger dino suspected – Knowledge

BEIJING / OTTAWA (dpa) – A carnivorous mammal may have attacked a much larger dinosaur in the Cretaceous period. Researchers from China and Canada wrote in the journal Scientific Reports.

They examined the well-preserved fossil. You can see a mammal and a dinosaur about two and a half times as long, entwined. Researchers led by Ling-Ji Li of the Chinese Ziguang Shi Yan School interpret this as a combative state. They suspect that mammals attacked dinosaurs. This was indicated by the positioning of mammals on dinosaurs as well as grabs and bites. It is unlikely that mammals would have ever eaten a dead dinosaur.

Many discoveries in the Chinese “Pompeii dinosaur”.

It’s one of the few pieces of evidence of mammalian predatory behavior toward Tyrannosaurus, said Jordan Malone, one of the study’s co-authors. This also calls into question the hypothesis that mammals were hardly threatened by dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period.

According to the researchers, the dinosaur was Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis, which was almost certainly a herbivore. So the sample comes from the early Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago. Full skeleton measures 45 1/2 inches. The mammal was said to be Repenomamus robustus, which was one of the largest Cretaceous mammals. The specimen is complete, except for the tip of the tail, and measures 46.7 cm.

According to the study, the skeletons were found in the Yixian Formation in China. Countless remains of plants, insects, fish, frogs, mammals, and dinosaurs, often with numerous tissue structures, have been discovered in the area.

The find is now in a museum in eastern China’s Shandong province, Canada’s National Museum of Natural History and Science in Ottawa announced. The fossil was discovered in China in 2012, both skeletons are almost complete and volcanic material was found.

In their study, the researchers also delve into why they are so convinced they have not been subjected to fraud. They deduced this, among other things, from the arrangement of the animals and further investigation.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 230718-99-439952/4