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[00:00.44] A new fossil study by researchers from China and Canada suggests that ancient mammals may have attacked and eaten larger dinosaurs.

[00:13.99] The scientists looked at a fossil found by a Chinese farmer in 2012.

[00:22.49] A fossil is the mineralized remains of an animal or plant left in an ancient rock.

[00:31.78] The scientists said the fossil is from 125 million years ago.

[00:38.16] They published their findings recently in the journal Scientific Reports.

[00:45.86] The scientists believe a mammal, similar to a badger, attacked a small, beaked dinosaur.

[00:54.89] During the attack, the animals were caught up in a lava flow from a nearby volcano.

[01:01.53] The moment was locked in time until it was found over 12 years ago.

[01:09.50] Researchers call the place where the fossil was found “China’s Pompeii.”

[01:14.82] Pompeii was a city in Italy that was caught in a volcanic eruption about 2000 years ago.

[01:23.31] Ash covered the city and preserved moments from daily life.

[01:29.16] Researchers discovered the ruins of the city about 500 years ago.

[01:36.33] In the past, dinosaur researchers believed small, scavenging mammals might have eaten dead dinosaurs.

[01:45.36] However, they were not sure that mammals attacked living dinosaurs.

[01:52.00] Jordan Mallon is a paleobiologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario.

[01:59.44] He was one of the study’s writers.

[02:02.36] “I’ve never seen a fossil like this before,” he said.

[02:06.88] Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

[02:13.25] He did not work on the study.

[02:16.44] He described the fossil as a “freeze frame” or something like a photograph.

[02:22.82] “It turns the old story on its head,” he said.

[02:26.80] Brusatte said the old idea was that dinosaurs ruled the world with small mammals “in the shadows.”

[02:35.83] Mallon said he would be happy for other scientists to examine the fossil if they are concerned that it might not be real.

[02:45.92] He described the mammal as about the size of a house cat.

[02:50.17] He said the dinosaur was about the size of an average dog.

[02:55.22] He said the species of dinosaur is Psittacosaurus and the mammal is called Repenomamus.

[03:05.05] The dinosaur ate plants, but other dinosaurs ate meat and hunted mammals.

[03:12.49] Mallon said it would have been more common for a dinosaur to hunt a mammal, but the fossil he studied shows something new.

[03:23.11] “We now know that the mammals were able to fight back, at least at times,” he said.