Repenomamus giganticus

I’m sure everyone has already heard about the discovery of a dinosaur-eating mammal from the Cretaceous. Here are some photos of the creature from the announcement in Nature.

I’m also sure that the scientifically-literate readers of the Panda’s Thumb and Pharyngula won’t be terribly surprised by this—the mammal-like reptiles are older than the dinosaurs, and mammals were contemporaries of the dinosaurs. The surprise is that what was discovered was a bandy-legged brute that was relatively large (about the size of your average dog) and was so danged uppity that it had been eating dinosaurs. That’s a bit more temerity than had been expected from our long-lost relatives.