Rare discovery of fossils in fossils

The fossil of a shark has been dug and its reptile is intact. But falling out, in this belly the reptile had a whole fish. This is the first time, scientists have found direct evidence of a complex food chain of extinct animals.

In the past, researchers had evidence of the food of ancient organisms based on their intestinal composition or feces. For example, fossils show some grass-eating dinosaurs."The prey, especially in the gut or stomach of other fossil organisms, is rarely conserved," said paleontologist Jurgen Kriwet at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.

By chance, Kriwet and colleagues discovered a new shark fossil in a museum collection. The specimen was quite intact and aged about 290 million years before the dinosaurs were born.

Freshwater shark, about 50cm long. In its stomach there are two small reptiles of the genus temnospondyls, each from 20 to 25cm long.

" Temnospondyl is a crocodile-like creature, with an adult length of up to 1 meter or more. However, the shark's animal is just a small temnospondyl, " Kriwet said. But it did not stop there, one of these reptiles contained a bone fish that was digested, but when living about 10 cm long.

This rare discovery has opened up light on the ancient world. For example, "none of the sharks, whether extinct or alive, were known to eat reptiles," Kriwet said. Further research can help reconstruct the ancient food chain, and may shed light on the operation of the underwater food system today.

Scientists found a fossil shark that had a crocodile-like reptile, and this reptile carried a fish in his belly.(Photo: LiveScience)

Thuan An