Dinosaur with broken wrist 'may have been too slow to escape predators'

Scientists believe the injury, and subsequent limp, is likely to have made the hadrosaur easy prey

An artist's impression of the wounded Amurosaurus riabinini grazing in the ancient forests of eastern Russia. PA

A limping dinosaur with a broken wrist may have been too slow to escape predators, scientists said on Tuesday.

A team from Queen's University Belfast studied the single bone — a broken wrist fossil discovered in Russia’s far east — which had some swelling.

Scientists said the bone of the “majestic” 68 million-year-old hadrosaur Amurosaurus riabinini probably survived after the creature was injured in a fall, perhaps while running or jumping.

But they believe the injury, and subsequent limp, is likely to have left it as easy prey, their findings published in Historical Biology say.

The team, led by palaeontologist Dr Filippo Bertozzo, analysed the bone, which was found in a quarry of the city of Blagoveshchensk.

“After detailed examination of the broken bone, we have discovered that it was from the wrist of a dinosaur known as a hadrosaur Amurosaurus riabinini and that the accident most likely happened when the four-footed animal was running or jumping, possibly while roaming the land in search of food and water," he said.

“Against all the odds the dinosaur survived the accident, as we can see that the bone was actually beginning to heal — this suggests that it didn't die immediately.

“However, it is likely that the injury led the animal to limp on three limbs, affecting its chances of escaping from predators.”

Prof Eileen Murphy, deputy head of the school of Natural and Built Environment at Queen's, supervised Dr Bertozzo.

“The study of ancient diseases and injuries, whether in past animals or humans, can provide a huge amount of information about the lives of past individuals,” she said.

“This study has enabled us to learn more about the experience of an injured animal in the period leading up to its death; it serves to remind us that even majestic dinosaurs could have accidents.”

Dr Bertozzo, who carried out the research during his PhD at Queen's, is now based at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science in Brussels.

Pre-historic finds

Museum curator Wang Zhenghua, left, and Wang Fangchen, a scientist from Beijing, remove a fossilised dinosaur egg from a mountainside in Yunxian, China, where a huge deposit of dinosaur eggs was discovered last week. AFP

A rare nest of ten dinosaur eggs, laid between 70 million to 100 million years ago, was sold at Bonham's in 1993 for $71,300. EPA

Palaeontologist Alberto Santana of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro inspects the 110-million-year-old fossil remains of a Santanaraptor dinosaur in Rio de Janeiro in July 2000. AFP

Scientist Jamie Powel shows the fossilised skull and jaw of a crocodile-like dinosaur dug up in Argentina's Tucuman province. Scientists said the reptile lived about 50 million years ago. Reuters

Swiss palaeontologist Cristian Maier points to a 68-million-year-old dinosaur footprint in August 1998, near Sucre, Bolivia. AFP

A nearly complete Oviraptorid dinosaur embryo, bottom, the outer surface of its egg, left, and the fragments of a dinosaur skull, possibly belonging to a Velociraptor, were all discovered in a nest in Mongolia in November 1994. EPA

The fossilised skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur at Sotheby's auction house in New York in October 1997. AFP

From left, Dr Stephen Godfrey, resident palaeontoligist with the Dinosaur World Tour, Dr Anne Warren from Melbourne Museum and Dr Alex Ritchie from the Australian Museum examine a fossil. Reuters

The wing of Alcmonavis poeschli, as it was found in a limestone slab in Bavaria, Germany. AFP

An expert works on the fossilised bones of a dinosaur in Maringa, Brazil, in January 2019. AFP

The fossilised bones of a theropod dinosaur, Gigantoraptor erlianensis, on display in Beijing in June 2007. AFP

Scientists Martin Sander, left, and Benjamin Englich examine the footprint of a long-necked dinosaur at an open-air museum in Germany in March 2012. EPA

Bolivian farmer Primo Rivera stands in an area called Tunasniyoj, which means 'the place of the prickly pear cactus', where he discovered dinosaur footprints in November 2008. Reuters

Scientific researcher Sanaa El-Sayed works on the 80-million-year-old remains of a plant-eating dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, in Cairo, Egypt, in February 2018. EPA

Fabien Knoll, an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Manchester, lies next to footprints belonging to the Kayentapus ambrokholohali dinosaur in Lesotho in October 2017. AFP