Dino eats mammal (was Re: getting old)

[Dino Guy and Computer Gal <gbabcock@best.com>]

Farlow_James wrote:

> Is my recollection that there is a small (Chinese?) theropod specimen that 
> contains the remains of a mammal as gut contents correct?  Can anybody give 
> me the reference to same?

Well, when the little rascals weren't tripping speeding theropod behemoths and 
laughing all the way to their burrows, the diminutive mammals of the Mesozoic 
were probably on the
menu of smaller theropods, such as _Sinosauropteryx prima_, "first Chinese 
dragon feather."

The _Nature_ article by Pei-Ji Chen, Zhi-Ming Dong, and Shuo-nan Zhen, from 
Volume 391, Jan. 8, 1998, pp. 147-152, "An exceptionally well-preserved 
theropod dinosaur from the
Yixian Formation of China," doesn't describe the mammal remains.  This is 
presumably because these were found in association with the third specimen, 
which was not described in the
_Nature_ article.  This article does mention and show the remains of an 
unidentified lizard and two egg-like structures found within NIGP 127587, 
however.

The "mammal jaw" is seen on pages 78-79 of "Dinosaurs Take Wing," the _National 
Geographic_ cover story by Jennifer Ackerman, Volume 194, No. 1, July 1998.  
The two page spread
shows the full slab of a _Sinosauropteryx_ specimen, with an inset close-up of 
the jaw.  The copy reads:

"The only dinosaur yet found with a mammal in its gut, the specimen exhibits 
its last meal behind the ribs near the thigh bones (red outline).  A close-up 
(right) pinpoints the
toothed jawbone of the unidentified prey."

--
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Ralph W. Miller III   ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu