Study documents early instance of ‘dinosaur eating a mammal’

Findings suggest these flying dinosaurs likely had a diverse diet and was not a specialist

Scientists have documented one of the rarest evidence of a dinosaur having eaten a mammal from a fossil specimen unearthed in the ancient forests of what is now China.

The study, published on Wednesday in the Journal of vertebrate Paleontology, describes a small, feathered dinosaur Microraptor preserved with the foot of a small mammal inside its ribcage.

Researchers, including David Hone from the Queen Mary University of London, say the dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous Period around 120 million years ago in what is now China.