Suffer from arthritis? Jurassic reptiles feel your pain.
Pliosaurus was an 8m long killing machine with 20cm teeth in its
crocodile-like head, easily ripping apart prey in the Jurassic seas 150
million years ago. Not much could take down a beast this size, but its
adaptations were no match for the effects of age. Analysis of the lower
jaw in May revealed signs of erosion at the left joint, presum
ably
caused by a degenerative disorder like arthritis. This caused the lower
jaw to hang askew, no doubt causing considerable pain to this apex
predator.
Other marks on the jaw tell us that this Pliosaurus -
suggested to be female due a low skull crest - lived for quite a while
with this condition. The jaw misalignment caused teeth in the upper jaw
to impact the lower jaw when biting, leaving grooves on the bone. The
lower jaw's teeth also left their mark on the upper jaw. Though this
Pliosaurus clearly lived for a while with this disability, it did
ultimately claim its life - an unhealed fracture on the lower jaw
indicates that it eventually broke. With feeding now impossible, she
perished.
"To see the jaws distorted out of place
substantially enough that the front tips of the jaws overlapped, and the
lower teeth made definite holes in the upper jaw, 5 centimeters (2
inches) off to the side, and that it lived with this agonizing pain for
so long, evidently still managing to feed, is quite impressive,"
commented Michael Benton, vertebrate paleontologist at the University of
Bristol, UK. "This was an old, weather-beaten animal when it died."
Photo credit: Simon Powell.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/
http://news.sciencemag.org/
http://
Suffer from arthritis? Jurassic reptiles feel your pain.
Pliosaurus was an 8m long killing machine with 20cm teeth in its crocodile-like head, easily ripping apart prey in the Jurassic seas 150 million years ago. Not much could take down a beast this size, but its adaptations were no match for the effects of age. Analysis of the lower jaw in May revealed signs of erosion at the left joint, presum
Pliosaurus was an 8m long killing machine with 20cm teeth in its crocodile-like head, easily ripping apart prey in the Jurassic seas 150 million years ago. Not much could take down a beast this size, but its adaptations were no match for the effects of age. Analysis of the lower jaw in May revealed signs of erosion at the left joint, presum
ably
caused by a degenerative disorder like arthritis. This caused the lower
jaw to hang askew, no doubt causing considerable pain to this apex
predator.
Other marks on the jaw tell us that this Pliosaurus - suggested to be female due a low skull crest - lived for quite a while with this condition. The jaw misalignment caused teeth in the upper jaw to impact the lower jaw when biting, leaving grooves on the bone. The lower jaw's teeth also left their mark on the upper jaw. Though this Pliosaurus clearly lived for a while with this disability, it did ultimately claim its life - an unhealed fracture on the lower jaw indicates that it eventually broke. With feeding now impossible, she perished.
"To see the jaws distorted out of place substantially enough that the front tips of the jaws overlapped, and the lower teeth made definite holes in the upper jaw, 5 centimeters (2 inches) off to the side, and that it lived with this agonizing pain for so long, evidently still managing to feed, is quite impressive," commented Michael Benton, vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol, UK. "This was an old, weather-beaten animal when it died."
Photo credit: Simon Powell.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/
http://news.sciencemag.org/
http://
Other marks on the jaw tell us that this Pliosaurus - suggested to be female due a low skull crest - lived for quite a while with this condition. The jaw misalignment caused teeth in the upper jaw to impact the lower jaw when biting, leaving grooves on the bone. The lower jaw's teeth also left their mark on the upper jaw. Though this Pliosaurus clearly lived for a while with this disability, it did ultimately claim its life - an unhealed fracture on the lower jaw indicates that it eventually broke. With feeding now impossible, she perished.
"To see the jaws distorted out of place substantially enough that the front tips of the jaws overlapped, and the lower teeth made definite holes in the upper jaw, 5 centimeters (2 inches) off to the side, and that it lived with this agonizing pain for so long, evidently still managing to feed, is quite impressive," commented Michael Benton, vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol, UK. "This was an old, weather-beaten animal when it died."
Photo credit: Simon Powell.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/
http://news.sciencemag.org/
http://
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