Mini T-Rex: It's Like a chihuahua, only awesome!

[Kryssan]

More proof that scientist don't watch enough horror films.

Why would we? We already know we're the bad guys in them. May as well indulge in the guilty pleasure anyway, neh. Knowledge without experience is the most dangerous kind.

[guartz]

What kind of mammals were around at the time?

your mom

[Airenn]

Reptile/bird is a complex subject, but the current theory is that all dinosaur families are descendants of reptiles, and still classified as Reptilia, but definitely different enough from true reptiles to deserve their own class. There's overwhelming evidence that theropods (t-rex, allosaur, raptors, etc) were more closely related to modern birds than to reptiles, and also that dinosaurs in general were warm-blooded and shared more traits with birds than reptiles. "Dinosaur" refers to a wide range of species that were only loosely related.

tl;dr they weren't reptiles or birds

This fossil is pretty interesting, though. It'll be interesting to see if they can find more in the same area. 3 meters is tiny for anything from that time period.

I thought that most dinosaurs were actually smaller? And the ones we commonly "know" are the large ones due to movies/books/etc that we read and hear about growing up?

[Mizango]

I thought that most dinosaurs were actually smaller? And the ones we commonly "know" are the large ones due to movies/books/etc that we read and hear about growing up?

You are referring to the Raptor family. That did and does not apply to the larger herbivores and carnivores.

Raptors in movies are always depicted as 8' and 9' foot tall creatures which isnt accurate but makes for good Hollywood.

[Jaybar]

Or Utahraptor. Fuck Utah. Mormonraptor.