A 120-million-year-old dinosaur fossil with the bones of its last snack still inside reveals it liked to eat our ancestors.

• Paleontologist Hans Larsson found a small mammal foot in the rib of a dinosaur fossil.

• The reptile was carnivorous and looked like a bird, according to McGill University.

• It is one of only 21 dinosaur fossils ever found with their food inside.

The key to the survival of a small, four-winged dinosaur species was not being picky about what it ate, examination of a rare fossil has revealed.

Paleontologist Hans Larsson, a professor at McGill University, was the first to notice a small mammal foot lodged between the bones of a fossil. Microraptor, a carnivorous dino with bird wings. The discovery shows that the dino ate a long list of animals, including mammals, fish, birds and lizards. the university announced in a Dec. 21 press release.

“These findings are the only solid evidence we have about the food consumption of these long-extinct animals, and they are exceptionally rare,” Larsson. he said in the statement. The revelation that the animal was an “opportunistic” eater “puts a new perspective on how ancient ecosystems might have worked,” he added.

Only 20 other fossils have been found with the fossilized bones of their meals inside, according to McGilland this is the first time a fossil has shown that any dinosaur ate mammals, the Economic Times reported.

Microraptor The fossils were first discovered in the early 2000s in Liaoning, China, located in the northeastern part of the country along the Yellow Sea. Scientists have it it was speculated that the species probably became extinct because it had four wings, and the two extra wings created drag when it moved.

His ability to make a snack of all kinds of animals may not have been enough to make up for two too many wings.

Read the original article at Business Insider