For the first time in science, the remains of a mammal were discovered inside the body of a dinosaur, a type of predation that previously we could only theorize and imagine. Although not an ancestor of Homo sapiens, the animal was a species of our distant relative, fossilized 120 million years ago while satisfying the hunger of a microraptor.
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The study's lead author, David Hone – from Queen Mary University of London – commented on the case with good humor in a statement, saying that the moment frozen in time is nothing as scary as Jurassic Park. Even so, it is the record of a moment never before perceived by us. The ancient cousin of our ancestors was inside the predator's fossilized ribs.
prey and predator
Microraptors were, as the name suggests, small raptors that lived in the territory of present-day China, at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, around 120 million years ago. Small, the voracious predator was approximately the size of a crow, sporting feathers on what would be its arms and legs, using them when it jumped and glided through the trees in search of prey.
The study specimen had already been found and described 22 years ago, but its last meal took a long time to be noticed. This caught the attention of paleontologist Hans Larsson, who joined Hone and other scientists to describe an ancient mammal's foot preserved between the animal's ribs. For science, finding any type of food on the back of a dinosaur is quite an event.
And the mammal in question, star of the show? According to calculations by paleontologists, the swallowed paw would have belonged to a tiny animal, the current size of a mouse. The bones indicate that it would have been a terrestrial inhabitant, crawling along the forest floor, with little ability to climb. In other words, easy prey for an experienced climber like the microraptor.
Hunter or butcher?
Speaking of predators, the species has already been found with lizards, fish and birds preserved in its stomach, showing that it ate all types of animals — all it took was to move to become a target. What we don't know, however, is whether the microraptor hunted all of them or just some, limiting itself to being a scavenger in some cases.
A domestic cat, for example, is similar in size to a microraptor and likes to hunt everything smaller, going after the most varied animals and insects when released. It wouldn't be much different with the ancient predator, but it's likely that it was a scavenger and a hunter, looking for meat in several different habitats.
