A badger-like mammal was sinking its teeth into the ribs of a dinosaur three times its size when they were buried in volcanic ash 125 million years ago, capturing the pair in a deadly embrace.
A badger-like mammal was sinking its teeth into the ribs of a dinosaur three times its size when they were buried in volcanic ash 125 million years ago, capturing the pair in a deadly embrace.
The fight scene, preserved in a fossil discovered in China, suggests that small mammals preyed on the dinosaurs that ruled Earth during the Cretaceous period more than previously thought, scientists said on Tuesday.
Jordan Mallon, a paleontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, told AFP that when he first saw the fossil « my eyes popped out of my head ».
Mallon, a co-author of a new study led by Chinese researchers, said they believe the fossil is the first ever discovered that shows a mammal and dinosaur fighting each other.
Mammals were generally considered far too small to prey on the dinosaurs that dominated the world during the tens of millions of years they shared on Earth.
