Understanding food chains in ancient ecosystems has long been a goal of paleoecology. Direct evidence for these interactions is scarce, including fossils containing food in the stomach and bite marks/tooth marks… Photo: @ IUGS-Geoheritage.
And recently, while excavating at Dinosaur National Park in Alberta, Canada, paleontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, the University of Reading, and the University of New England discovered something strange. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
It is a fossilized neck vertebra of a giant azhdarchid flying dinosaur called Cryodrakon boreas (estimated to have had a wingspan of about 2 meters), which lived in the Cretaceous period of Alberta, Canada, about 76 million years ago. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
The total length of this cervical vertebra is 9.4 cm. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
In-depth archaeological research and analysis using micro-CT scanning techniques showed that this fossilized cervical vertebra had a strange bite mark, creating a large circular puncture. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
Based on the size and shape of the teeth marks, and comparisons with modern animals, the authors suggest that a crocodile bit the pterosaur's neck, but they cannot determine whether this was the result of active hunting by the crocodile, or whether the crocodile was simply scavenging on the previously dead pterosaur. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
"The bones of flying dinosaurs are very rare, so finding fossils of them that have been bitten by another animal is clearly incredible," said Dr Caleb Brown, a palaeontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Photo: @Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/he-lo-xuong-khung-long-bay-bi-ca-sau-can-tu-ky-phan-trang-post1550283.html
Comment (0)