Dinosaurs in the mammal diet

2005/01/17 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

It is said that the mesozoic was the age of dinosaurs, who were owners. Mammals, on the other hand, were considered small and, above all, at night, because they feared the dinosaurs.

However, in the rich field of the Chinese region of Liaoning have been found fossils of mammals of a certain magnitude of the time, one of which has a dinosaur breeding in the womb.

Paleontologists have already found fossils from the mammal Repenomamus robustus. But this time they have made a discovery full of surprises: in the stomach of a R. robustus 130 million years ago they have found the bones of a dinosaur puppy, so the mammals were not as terrible as expected, and, on the other hand, the fossil of a larger mammal. This other mammal is called Repenomamus giganticus.

After analyzing the fossil, R. giganticus (in the photo) discovers that it had an approximate length of one meter and a weight of 12-14 kilos. And observing the teeth and gag have come to the conclusion that this mammal, like R. robustus, was also carnivorous, so it could also eat dinosaurs.

But if you want to know the way of life of these mammals in a more reliable way, more fossils will be needed. And paleontologists hope that as the work of the deposit advances, the largest mammals of Mesozoic are known.

Photo: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences. Wei Gao.