Dinosaurs Inside and Out

Abnormal Dinosaur Bones

What do dinosaur bones indicate to paleontologists about the health of these animals?

Dinosaurs, in general, seem to have been relatively healthy animals, if the evidence from—and the interpretation of—the fossil records are to be believed. A few fossilized bones have shown evidence of abnormalities, such as asymmetrical bone growth, healed traumatic and repetitive stress fractures, arthritis, ossification (the development of bony-like material) of spinal ligaments, and the fusion of the animal’s spinal bones (or vertebrae).

