Typically, the aim of scientists is to generalize, so this NewScientist (28 November 2020) report on a dwarf titanosaur is a little different:
[Aline Ghilardi at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil] and her team analysed a sample of the leg bone, cutting thin sections of the fossil and analysing them using a medical CT scanner.
The researchers found that the dinosaur was old and infirm. They analysed strange, spongy bumps on its bones, and found that they were probably due to an aggressive form of osteomyelitis, a type of bone infection often spread by fungi, bacteria or protozoa.
Based on the way the infection typically works in animals or humans today, they deduced that the state of the disease was so advanced that this dwarf titanosaur would have been covered in open wounds. The team gave it another nickname: Dino Zombie.
Further analysis also revealed microorganisms that were present in the dwarf titanosaur’s blood when it died. Ghilardi says these might be large protozoans or nematode worms, and could have even been the cause of the bone infection, although it is difficult to say for sure.
It’s interesting to see how the plagues have been around for millions of years.
Or will the creationists try to claim that Dino Zombie was actually just not turned enough by its attendants in its final days in a nursing home?
