An international team of paleoecologists have made a discovery which gives us rare insight into prehistoric food chains.
The fossilised neck bone of a pterosaur has been discovered with puncture marks, thought to be made by a large crocodilian creature over 76 million years ago.
It was unearthed in Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada) which has produced some of the most important dinosaur fossil discoveries ever made. Researchers from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (Canada), the University of Reading (UK) and the University of New England (Australia) published the findings in the Journal of Palaeontology.
- Gigantic dinosaur footprints unearthed in UK quarry opens debate about carnivore-herbivore interactions
- Smallest dinosaur eggs ever found dug up on Chinese building site
The punctured vertebra belongs to a young Azhdarchid pterosaur (Cryodrakon boreas), with an estimated wingspan of two metres. If it reached adulthood, it would have been as tall as a giraffe with a wingspan of around 10 metres.
The juvenile pterosaur vertebra bears a four millimetre-wide mark from a crocodilian tooth – though it's not possible to tell whether the crocodilian was scavenging or actively preying.
- “What the hell is this?” Scientists amazed at prehistoric crocodile-like animal discovered in Nevada
- Giant crocodile ancestor with epic 'suit of armour' identified in Texas
If the feeding marks do represent predation, they likely indicate that the pterosaur was near water at the time, perhaps drinking or hunting for aquatic prey – meaning that ancient crocodilians hunted in a similar way that crocodiles do today.
It's the first piece of evidence found in North America of ancient crocodilians feeding on these giant prehistoric flying reptiles.
Dr Caleb Brown, from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, is the lead author of the paper. He said: “Pterosaur bones are very delicate – so finding fossils where another animal has clearly taken a bite is exceptionally uncommon. This specimen being a juvenile makes it even more rare.”
The researchers used micro-CT scans and comparisons with previously unearthed pterosaur bones to confirm that the puncture is not damage due to fossilisation or excavation, but an actual bite. Understanding food chains in ancient ecosystems is one of the goals of paleoecology, but direct evidence is incredibly rare.
More prehistoric discoveries
- How extreme cold, not heat, triggered the mass extinction 200 million years ago - paving the way for the rise of the dinosaurs...
- The 10 deadliest dinosaurs to have ever roamed the Earth: we rate these ultimate killing machines
- Meet 10 deadly prehistoric birds, including one that could swallow human babies and a 1.5m-tall penguin
Main image: Dinosaur Provincial Park/Getty