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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Nicola Davis Science correspondent

‘Not always king’: fossil shows mammal sinking teeth into dinosaur

The fossil shows a Repenomamus robustus biting the ribs of the dinosaur Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis.
The fossil shows a Repenomamus robustus biting the ribs of the dinosaur Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis. Photograph: Gang Han

Whether they had sharp teeth, vicious claws or were simply enormous, dinosaurs were creatures to be feared. But a newly identified fossil shows that, at least sometimes, the underdog bit back.

Experts revealed the 125m-year-old fossil that froze in time after being taken on by a small mammal a third of its size. They are tangled together, the mammal’s teeth sunk into the beaked dinosaur’s ribs, its left paw clasping the beast’s lower jaw.

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