Scientists have discovered the first evidence of a unique respiratory infection in the fossilized remains of a dinosaur that lived nearly 150 million years ago. The research was led by Cary Woodruff of the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum.
Researchers examined the remains of an immature diplodocid — a long-necked herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, such as “Brontosaurus” — dating to the late Jurassic period of the Mesozoic. The dinosaur nicknamed “Dolly,” discovered in southwestern Montana, had evidence of infection in the area of its neck vertebrae.
The study identified never-before-seen abnormal bony prominences of unusual shape and texture. These protrusions were in an area of each bone where they would have been penetrated by air sacs. Air sacs are non-oxygen exchanging parts of the respiratory system in modern birds that are also present in dinosaurs. The air sacs would eventually connect to “Dolly’s” lungs and be part of the dinosaur’s complex respiratory system. CT imaging of the irregular protrusions revealed that they were made of abnormal bone that most likely formed in response to infection.
“We’ve all experienced the same symptoms — cough, trouble breathing, fever, and here’s a 150-million-year-old dinosaur that probably felt just as miserable as we all do when we’re sick,” Woodruff said.
Researchers said these findings were significant because Dolly was considered a non-avian dinosaur, and sauropods, like Dolly, didn’t evolve to become birds; only avian theropods evolved into birds. The authors speculated that this respiratory infection could have been caused by a fungal infection similar to aspergillosis, a common respiratory disease that today affects birds and reptiles and can lead to bone infections. In addition to documenting the first occurrence of such a respiratory infection in a dinosaur, this fossilized infection also has important anatomical implications for the respiratory system of sauropod dinosaurs.
“This fossil infection in Dolly not only helps us trace the evolutionary history of airway-related diseases back in time, but it also gives us a better understanding of what kinds of diseases dinosaurs were susceptible to,” Woodruff said.
“This would have been a remarkable, visibly sick sauropod,” Wolff said. “We always thought of dinosaurs as big and tough, but they got sick. They had respiratory illnesses like birds have today, in fact maybe even the same devastating infections in some cases.”
The researchers suggested that if Dolly was infected with an aspergillosis-like respiratory infection, she likely had flu- or pneumonia-like symptoms, such as weight loss, cough, fever and difficulty breathing. Since aspergillosis can be fatal in birds if left untreated, a potentially similar infection in Dolly could have ultimately caused the animal’s death.
“We must continue to expand our knowledge of ancient diseases. If we look closely enough, we may begin to understand more about the evolution of immunity and infectious diseases,” Wolff said. “If we work together across multiple specialties — veterinarians, anatomists, paleontologists, paleopathologists and radiologists, we can get a more complete picture of ancient diseases.”
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