The Strange Case of Transylvanian Hadrosaurs

This week an article was published describing an unusual growth on the face of a hadrosaur. Hadrosaurs were duck-billed dinosaurs, like the well-known “Ducky” from The Land Before Time.

The dinosaur in question is a specimen of Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a hadrosaur from the Cretaceous of central Romania, in the region known as Transylvania. Although hadrosaurs are a well-studied and familiar group of dinosaurs, this specimen is notable because it has a growth on its face.

The researchers used CT scanning to examine the internal structure of the bone without damaging it. Their results suggest that the growth was likely non-cancerous (benign) and located around the teeth of the lower jaw.

This individual represents the fourth dinosaur found with this condition in Transylvania, and it is the best documented so far. Interestingly, all of the known cases from this region involve hadrosaurs. For reasons that are not yet clear, hadrosaurs appear to have developed this type of growth more frequently than other dinosaurs.

Finds like this provide insight not only into dinosaur anatomy, but also into the kinds of diseases and abnormalities that affected them millions of years ago.