2024-03-03 04:00:00
Like other animals, Dinosaurs also suffered from diseases. Recently, a group of researchers from the “Ernesto Bachmann” Municipal Museum of Villa El Chocón, in Neuquén, the National University of Río Negro (UNRN), the Carlos Ameghino Museum of Cipolletti, and Conicet, among other institutions, identified evidence of diseases suffered by three species of abelisaurid dinosaurs.
These animals lived in Patagonia at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately between 90 and 70 million years ago. The work analyzed remains of the species Elemgase nubilus, Aucasaurus garridoi and Quilmesaurus curriei.
The abelisaurids were a family of bipedal, carnivorous dinosaurs. They had skull bones with ornamentation, very reduced forelimbs and a rigid axial skeleton due to the peculiar joints of some of their vertebrae. The new study was published in the journal BMC Ecology and Evolution and revealed details regarding the health conditions of these now extinct reptiles.
In a first phase of the research, paleontologists noticed deformations on the external surface of some bones at a macroscopic level, especially in the caudal vertebrae of specimens of Elemgasem y Aucasaurus. This finding led to the hypothesis of possible pathologies, which led the researchers to analyze both the external morphology and the internal structure of these specimens.
Three types of studies were carried out: the first consisted of the macroscopic analysis of the external structure of the bones. The second was histological, focused on Quilmesaurus y Elemgasem, to examine changes at a microscopic level, both on the outside and inside of bones. While, The third study included computed tomography scans on some elements of Aucasaurusto evaluate how a possible pathology affected the bone tissue.
The results revealed three different types of pathologies. The copy of Aucasaurus He had a congenital developmental disease. He indicates that the individual was born with a malformation, which nevertheless allowed him to live many years without serious effects.
In the case of Elemgasemwas diagnosed spondyloarthropathy or spondyloarthritis, a disease also present in humans (although of course they did not live with them). The disorder causes fusion of vertebrae and subsequent inflammation.
The copy of Quilmesaurus showed signs of some pathology that might not be determined precisely, although it is different from those detected in the other two abelisaurids.
What the results imply
The last phase of the study consisted of the compilation and statistical analysis of all the diseases recorded in theropod dinosaurs worldwide. This step allowed us to establish the most complete database to date for this group of extinct animals.
“This work not only expands our knowledge regarding dinosaur health, but also highlights the presence of diseases that persist today, suggesting possible connections between the study of extinct organisms and contemporary disease research,” said the first author. from the study, Mattia Antonio Baianowho participated in the study within the framework of a Conicet postdoctoral fellowship.
Another of the scientists, Diego Pol, maintained that he tried to “discover a little of the marks left on the skeleton by the behavior of dinosaurs.” Also participating in the research were: Ignacio Cerda, Conicet researcher at the Paleontology and Biology Research Institute, and Filippo Bertozzo, from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, in Belgium.
The researchers highlighted that The study of dinosaur diseases might shed light on the origin of several current pathologies.
1709441887
#diseases #dinosaurs
