An “unusual” fossil revealed that a small, carnivorous dinosaur consumed mammals, demystifying the diet of the long-extinct creature, researchers said.
An intact mammal foot was spotted inside the rib cage of a fossilized Microraptor zhaoianus, a feathered dinosaur, according to a study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and an accompanying news release.
“At first, I couldn’t believe it. There was a tiny rodent-like mammal foot about a centimeter long perfectly preserved inside a Microraptor skeleton,” Hans Larsson, McGill University professor and co-author of the study, wrote in the release. “These finds are the only solid evidence we have about the food consumption of these long extinct animals – and they are exceptionally rare.”
