A rare fossil showed that the key to a small, four-winged dinosaur's survival was not being picky about what it ate.
The first to see a mammal foot in between the bones of a dinosaur was a professor at the university. According to a December 21 press release, the dino ate a long list of animals.
"These finds are the only evidence we have about the food consumption of these long extinct animals, and they are extremely rare," he said. He said the revelation that the animal was an "opportunistic" eater put a new perspective on how ancient ecosystems may have worked.
The Economic Times reported that this is the first time a fossil has shown that a dinosaur ate mammals.
The first fossils of Microraptor were found in China in the early 2000s. The scientists think that the species died out because it had four wings and two more.
It might not have been enough for it to make up for two too many wings.
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