Centrosaurus

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Centrosaurus

Centrosaurus apertus was a plant-eating horned dinosaur living in Alberta around 76 million years ago. One fossil from Dinosaur Provincial Park tells a surprisingly personal part of its story. The end of a lower-leg bone was badly misshapen. At first, that damage was interpreted as a healing fracture, but later researchers recognized that it needed a much closer examination. [S1]

The team combined paleontology with medical techniques. They used high-resolution scans to look inside the bone, then examined thin slices under a microscope. Comparisons with an unaffected Centrosaurus bone and a human bone with a known cancer helped support a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer. The diagnosis concerned this particular adult animal, rather than every member of its species. [S1]

Its fossil came from a large concentration of Centrosaurus bones. Researchers interpreted the deposit as animals dying together in a flood, with herd life potentially helping the ill individual survive before that event. This remains an interpretation of the bonebed. The specimen shows that understanding a dinosaur includes its health and life history, alongside the familiar horns and skeleton. [S1]