This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Fossilized bones can reveal a wealth of details about animals, including their size, appearance, what they ate and any injuries they may have suffered. In a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers in Spain describe a swollen patch on the shinbone of an Iguanodon, which they say may be evidence of an advanced skin ulcer that had reached the underlying bone.
If so, this could be the first time this type of response to a bacterial infection has been reported in a dinosaur. The team was working on two fossil carcasses of Iguanodon bernissartensis from the Early Cretaceous, discovered at the Mas de la Parreta quarry in Morella, eastern Spain. They came across a strange swelling on the shinbone of one set of remains and decided to investigate possible causes.
The swelling is a 17.4-centimeter (6.9-inch) bone overgrowth along the middle of the shinbone, covering about 17% of its length. To narrow down the likely cause of the injury, the scientists scanned the bone with a hospital scanner to create 3D digital models that revealed its inner structure. The lesion did not extend into the bone's central cavity, indicating that the problem likely originated in the overlying soft tissue.
The team then compared these images with known signs of fractures, tumors and bone diseases but found no similar patterns in the Iguanodon bone. Instead, the swelling matched how bone reacts when an open skin sore sits directly above it. When an infected skin ulcer spreads down to the tissue covering the bone, it can trigger inflammation and new bone formation at the bone's surface.
The study authors therefore suggest that the overgrowth may have been caused by an infected skin ulcer that triggered inflammation and thickening in the tissue and bone beneath it. It most likely would have been painful, as they note in their paper: "The progression of ulceration towards the periosteum of the bone may have caused persistent pain, which was aggravated by normal walking and muscle pressure." Bone diseases have been found in dinosaurs before, including in Iguanodon. But this may be the first example of this particular type of bone reaction to a bacterial infection in these ancient animals.
"This is, to our knowledge, the first report of this type of pathological response to a bacterial infection in a dinosaur," say the researchers. Written for you by our author Paul Arnold, edited by Lisa Lock, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
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