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GPDM: First Ever Respiratory Infection Found in a Dinosaur

In a paper released on Thursday, February 10, Dr. Cary Woodruff, Director of Paleontology at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana, along with other colleagues, reported that they have found the first bird-like respiratory infection in a dinosaur.

The subject of the discovery was a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur, nicknamed "Dolly". "Dolly" was a herbivore that lived approximately 150 million years ago and was discovered back in 1990 in the Livingston area. The fossil of "Dolly" is currently housed at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman.

While studying the cervical or neck vertebrae of "Dolly", Woodruff noticed some unusual broccoli-like growths. "I have looked at a lot of sauropod vertebrae before, but had never seen anything like these structures," Woodruff said. "So I put pictures on social media for all of my friends to look at."

Several scientists joined in the conversation and suggested that the bony growths looked similar to abnormal growths caused by respiratory infections in birds today.

Woodruff brought the vertebrae to Malta and CT imaging was done at the Phillips County Hospital.

These abnormal bony protrusions were located in an area of each bone where portions of the respiratory system, called air sacs, connected into the vertebra. These air sacs would ultimately have connected to "Dolly's" lungs and formed part of the dinosaur's complex respiratory system. In birds today, air moves from the lungs, and into these bone-penetrating air sacs.

Based on the location of the bony protrusions, Woodruff and his colleagues suggest that they formed in response to a respiratory infection, which ultimately spread into these neck vertebrae via the air sacs and caused the irregular bone growths. The scientists speculate that this respiratory infection could have been caused by a fungal infection similar to aspergillosis, a common respiratory illness that affects birds today, and can lead to bone infections.

Woodruff said, "Birds today with respiratory infections experience flu-like and pneumonia-like symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, weight loss, and having a fever. Therefore, we think that "Dolly" experienced these same kinds of symptoms. We can't say if it was the infection that killed "Dolly" outright, or if "Dolly" was sick and it made the dinosaur an easy target for predators. I do think one way or another that this disease did contribute to the death of the animal."

In addition to Woodruff, the research team included Ewan Wolff, paleopathologist/veterinarian from the University of New Mexico; Sophie Dennison, a veterinarian at TeleVet Imaging Solutions, Oakton, VA; and two paleontologists who are also medical anatomists, Mathew Wedel of Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA and Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens, OH.

 

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