Large flying reptile’s skeleton found in Mongolia

The skeleton of a large flying reptile dating back to 75 million years ago has been discovered in the gut of a Velociraptor, in the Gobi desert of Mongolia.

The 75mm-long pterosaur bone shard was found within the rib cage where the Velociraptor's gut would have been.

"It would be difficult and probably even dangerous for the small theropod dinosaur to target a pterosaur with a wingspan of 2 meters or more, unless the pterosaur was already ill or injured," said study co-author Dr. David Hone of the University College Dublin, Ireland.

"So the pterosaur bone we've identified in the gut of the Velociraptor was most likely scavenged from a carcass rather than the result of a predatory kill," he added.

Researchers say gut contents are rare and pterosaur bones are rather fragile and do not preserve well, so it is an unusual find.

Studies showed that small dinosaurs ate relatively large bones that caused problems for them.

Researchers say Velociraptor died shortly after feeding on the pterosaur as the smooth surface of the reptile bones was not eroded by stomach acids and the animal suffered from a broken rib.

Source: presstv.ir