Dinosaurs got cancer too, 76-million-year-old tumour shows
- Scientists say plant-eating Centrosaurus found in Canada is first known example of one of these ancient reptiles afflicted with the disease
- ‘Gnarly’ growth on animal’s leg bone was larger than an apple
When scientists first unearthed fossils of a horned dinosaur called Centrosaurus in the badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park in Canada’s Alberta province in 1989, they spotted a badly malformed leg bone they figured was a healed fracture.
A fresh examination, researchers said on Monday, shows something different. The malformation was a manifestation of osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer, making this Centrosaurus, which lived 76 million years ago, the first known example of a dinosaur afflicted by malignant cancer.
About 20 feet (six metres) long, Centrosaurus was a four-legged beaked plant-eating Cretaceous Period dinosaur possessing a long horn above its nose and a bony frill above its neck with two smaller hooked horns.
The Centrosaurus fibula, a lower leg bone, contained “a massive gnarly tumour larger than an apple,” said palaeontologist David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Lancet Oncology.
“This particular Centrosaurus was likely weak and lamed by the cancer prior to its death. This remarkable find shows that no matter how big or powerful some dinosaurs may seem, they were affected by many of the same diseases we see in humans and other animals today, including cancer.” he added.
“Dinosaurs seem like mythical beasts, but they were living, breathing animals that suffered through horrible injuries and diseases.”