A case of the Jurassic bark
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:34 am
A pair of 'Mesozoic dogs' that hunted small dinosaurs 130m years ago has been discovered in China, over-turning standard theories about the earliest mammals.
The smaller of the two dog-sized fossils still has the remains of its last meal - a juvenile dinosaur in its stomach area, while the larger is the biggest mammal ever found from its age.
Together, they prove for the first time that some primitive warm-blooded mammals were predatory carnivores that fed on other vertbrates.
It had been thought that the mammals of the Mesozoic era - the golden age of the dinosaurs that stretched from 280m to 65m years ago-were insect-eating or herbivorous creatures no bigger than modern mice, rats and shrews.
The first fossil, Repenomamus robustus, was more than 20ins (50cm) long, weighed 9lb to 13lb (4kg to 6kg) and had short, stumpy legs.
The second fossil, Repenomamus gigantictus, ( My Mother in-law) is a larger relative more than 5ft 3ins long.
www.sunday-times.co.uk
The smaller of the two dog-sized fossils still has the remains of its last meal - a juvenile dinosaur in its stomach area, while the larger is the biggest mammal ever found from its age.
Together, they prove for the first time that some primitive warm-blooded mammals were predatory carnivores that fed on other vertbrates.
It had been thought that the mammals of the Mesozoic era - the golden age of the dinosaurs that stretched from 280m to 65m years ago-were insect-eating or herbivorous creatures no bigger than modern mice, rats and shrews.
The first fossil, Repenomamus robustus, was more than 20ins (50cm) long, weighed 9lb to 13lb (4kg to 6kg) and had short, stumpy legs.
The second fossil, Repenomamus gigantictus, ( My Mother in-law) is a larger relative more than 5ft 3ins long.
www.sunday-times.co.uk
I was looking at the picture, and couldn't believe that not only did the mammal eat the dinosaur, but so many bones were there. Can that be right?