Scientists have discovered the first physical evidence of a dinosaur eating a mammal and no, before you ask, it wasn’t a human. And yes, before you tell me, I know humans and dinosaurs never overlapped in the history of Earth but I’m still sad about it.
UK palaeontologists sussed out the unlucky critter thanks to a preserved body part in the fossil of a wee feathery dino called Microraptor zhaoianus. I’ll give you one guess about the body part in question.
Did you guess foot? If so, ding ding ding ding ding to you.
According to the study — which was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology — it’s usually pretty hard to identify the gut contents of dinos. They’re also super rare in the fossil record, which shows the development of life on Earth through fossils.
It turns out the Microraptor also chowed down on birds, fish and lizards. I wonder if the dinos had a preference: I can see the scenes of baby dinos complaining about having fish for dinner again
