Posted on 03/13/2012 7:17:13 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
What did Velociraptor have for dinner? Raptor skeleton discovered with bones in its gut
If you lie awake at night wondering Velociraptor's favorite food was (and whether it tastes much like human flesh), you're in luck. For the first time, a Velociraptor skeleton has been observed with its last supper still filling its guts, and this little guy feasted on long-dead pterosaur.
Paleontologist David Hone has published a new paper describing his findings in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, but for those who don't want to breach the paywall, he's also explaining them on his blog. This especially well preserved specimen was discovered in the 1990s, but has only just now been described. Hone and his colleagues identified the skeleton as a Velociraptor and the bones inside as a Late Cretaceous pterosaur.
This is not only the first time that a Velociraptor's gut contents have been observed, it's also the first time a pterosaur bone has been found inside a theropod, the bipedal suborder of dinosaurs to which both Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus Rex belong. Hone calls it "exceptional evidence" that these Jurassic Park predators chowed down on pterosaurs and their kin.
We all know of the Velociraptor's hunting prowess (some of us still have nightmares about it), but how exactly did this dinosaur manage to eat a winged snack? According to the paper's abstract, this helps solidify the idea that Velociraptor sometimes scavenged for its supper, a matter Hone will be exploring very soon on his blog.
He's also posted some lovely photos of the fossil in question. The white arrow points to a spot where this Velociraptor broke its rib cage.
Velociraptor specimen with a pterosaur bone as gut content (black arrows). From Hone et al., 2012
Close up of the bone. From Hone et al., 2012
Near the end, all the dinosaurs had only each other to feast upon.
Velociraptor ping!
...ping for little boy...
ping for ggg
Well... They could catch a pterosaur on the ground. Pterosaurs couldn’t have been very agile on the ground.
Ugggghhhhh ... no wonder they’re extinct!
Thanx this is very interesting and there is also a bit of language humor here as ‘hone’ means ‘bone’ in japanese.
Same way my Lab/Rottie/whatever mix managed to snatch the neighbor's escaped iridescent bird out of the air, and leave nothing but gleaming green feathers on the back porch.
Which I quickly swept away after promising to keep an eye out for 'Peaches'.
/johnny
The wool suit is long gone, but this ancestor ate well.
What a ridiculous conclusion. Cats catch birds all the time, and my cat even brought a bat into the house once. Fortunately it was dead. Velociraptor was likely lying in wait behind a bush and then suddenly POUNCE, pterosaur was lunch. That is how Oscar does it, he is dang good at it. If I could stomach his kills my food bill would be minimal.
A Tooslowiraptor.
My 8 month old golden retriever caught a mallard drake out on our lawn, and had killed and eaten that duck before I could stop him!
Mmmm. Duck.... I likes some duck.
I've no problem with local wild game... jerky made out of chicken from who knows where? Treated with who knows what? and fed (dearlordIdontwanttothinkaboutit)....
Maybe not so much.
/johnny
LOL!
/johnny
Turns out the Tooslowiraptor had just eaten a Voltiplodicus and had indigestion.
Q: What Did Velociraptor Have For Dinner?
A: Anything he wanted!
(Thank you, thank you; I’ll be here all night...)
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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The other, other, other white meat. |
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