The new specimens from Bayan Mandahu described in this paper
strongly suggest that an adult Protoceratops acted as a food source for
either a group of predatory Velociraptor or, more likely, a scavenging
individual. Taken together, the two cases suggest that feeding by
Velociraptor on Protoceratops, in the context of either scavenging or
predation, was a relatively common occurrence. This is hardly a
surprising conclusion, considering the abundance of Protoceratops and
Velociraptor in Djadokhta-equivalent beds in both Inner Mongolia and
Mongolia proper. Protoceratops is by far the most common dinosaur in
such deposits, and Velociraptor probably the most common theropod.
However, the value of positive evidence for such a trophic relationship
should not be underestimated, given that studies of dromaeosaurid
ecology and hunting style (Ostrom, 1990; Fastovsky and Smith, 2004;
Roach and Brinkman, 2007) necessarily draw inferences from a very
limited body of primary data.