New evidence for a trophic relationship between the dinosaurs Velociraptor and Protoceratops

Reconstructing the palaeoecology of extinct tetrapods is fraught with difficulties. Fossilized evidence of direct trophic interactions between tetrapods is rare, whether the interactions involve predation or scavenging. Typically this evidence is limited to preserved stomach contents or bite marks on bones (when they can be confidently attributed to specific taxa) that make it possible to begin to piece together the trophic webs that existed in ancient ecosystems. The dramatic ‘fighting dinosaurs’ fossil of a Velociraptor preserved in combat with a Protoceratops provides an outstanding, but still lone, example of the two taxa interacting. Here new evidence of a Velociraptor feeding on the carcass of a Protoceratops is presented, based on tooth-marked bones of the latter that were found in association with shed teeth of the former in Upper Cretaceous deposits at Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia, China. In contrast to the case of the fighting dinosaurs, which seems to represent active predation by a Velociraptor, the tooth marks on the Bayan Mandahu material are inferred to have been produced during late-stage carcass consumption either during scavenging or following a group kill. Feeding by Velociraptor upon Protoceratops was probably a relatively common occurrence.