 |
| Two Daspletosaurus |
Daspletosaurus was a large carnivore that lived in Canada and was only a little smaller than its more famous cousin Tyrannosaurus.
Like other tyrannosaurs it was most likely both an active predator and
scavenger. The individual in question, from Alberta Canada, was not
fully grown and would be considered a 'sub-adult' in dinosaur terms
(approximately equivalent to an older teenager in human terms). It would
have been just under 6 m long and around 500 kg when it died.
Researchers found numerous injuries on the skull that occurred during
life. Although not all of them can be attributed to bites, several are
close in shape to the teeth of tyrannosaurs. In particular one bite to
the back of the head had broken off part of the skull and left a
circular tooth-shaped puncture though the bone. The fact that
alterations to the bone's surface indicate healing means that these
injuries were not fatal and the animal lived for some time after they
were inflicted.
Lead author Dr David Hone from Queen Mary, University of London said
"This animal clearly had a tough life suffering numerous injuries across
the head including some that must have been quite nasty. The most
likely candidate to have done this is another member of the same
species, suggesting some serious fights between these animals during
their lives."
There is no evidence that the animal died at the hands (or mouth) of
another tyrannosaur. However, the preservation of the skull and other
bones, and damage to the jaw bones show that after the specimen began to
decay, a large tyrannosaur (possibly of the same species) bit into the
animal and presumably ate at least part of it.
Combat between large carnivorous dinosaurs is already known and there
is already evidence for cannibalism in various groups, including
tyrannosaurs. This is however an apparently unique record with evidence
of both pre- and post-mortem injuries to a single individual.
This Story is taken from Science Daily
No comments:
Post a Comment