Proof dinosaurs could heal from injuries

Ryan J. Clayton of Nottingham, UK recently published an academic paper on a specimen with some peculiar pathologies at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

Clayton stated he volunteered/interned at the center in the summer of 2013. He started university to do his undergraduate degree in Natural History in 2014 and in 2017, the final year, he had to do a dissertation. He asked the center if there were any projects he could do and was told about some bones with strange features.

“At first it was assumed this could be a new species,” Clayton said, “but my research shows that this dinosaur was actually hurt really badly.” The specimen is referred to as “Oozie” the Diplodocus.

Clayton stated his research shows Oozie might be the first Diplodocus, as well as the second sauropod, to ever be described with a disease called Osteomyelitis. Further, this may be the first dinosaur ever described as having enthesitis, or a muscle tear.

Clayton further speculated this enthesitis may have been the result of Oozie being stomped in the crotch. According to the abstract of his paper, Clayton stated “the main hypothesis of this study is that a Diplodocus was injured, resulting in a variety of paleopathologies. Several bones have unusual pathologies, such as a left pubis bone with an abnormal growth and a left femur with an extended fourth trochanter.

“Pathologies present in these bones suggest an injury from an unknown cause, which the Diplodocus survived. The left pubis bone growth shows signs of possibly being purulent, and the right pubis shows evidence of healing after fracturing due to the presence of a callus. Osteomyelitis may have occurred in a growth from a pubis and enthesitis on the left femur, causing an extension to the fourth trochanter on the left femur from muscle strain.

“The extension of the fourth trochanter on the left femur suggests that the m. caudofemoralis longus on the left femur was also damaged by the injury, and the healing process involved fibrous entheseal changes to strengthen the muscle attachment site. It remains unknown if it was damaged in the same impact injury or from a different, unrelated scenario.”

Clayton’s paper, which goes into further detail on his research and findings, is available online through academia.edu.