Potentially Most Complete Fossil of Triceratops Discovered to Date

With all the new horned dinosaur discoveries it can be misleading to think that palaeontologists already have a comprehensive understanding of some of the more famous ceratopsians, giant prehistoric beasts such as Triceratops for example.  However, this is not the case as a number of gifted and talented year six and seven school children will discover when Everything Dinosaur takes part in a special science day at their school this week.

Triceratops

Triceratops may have been described as long ago as 1888, but “three horned face” is still full of mystery for palaeontologists.  The recent discovery of three sets of Triceratops fossils, alongside leg material from a tyrannosaur (probably T. rex) will help researchers to learn more about these giant Late Cretaceous herbivores.  One specimen may prove to be the most complete example of Triceratops (T. horridus) found to date

The discovery was made in May, near to the town of Newcastle, Wyoming.  Up until now, only two relatively complete Triceratops skeletons have been found, this famous dinosaur has been pieced together and become a mainstay of dinosaur galleries in museums from fragmented and disassociated fossils.

Three Triceratops Fossil Specimens

Commenting on the discovery, which includes the lower limb bones and foot of a Tyrannosaur’s left leg, Black Hills Institute President Pete Larson stated:

“We have been given a rare, I would say unprecedented, opportunity.”

The excavation will take the Black Hills Institute working in collaboration with co-workers from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre from the Netherlands, around a month to complete as at least two of the specimens represent an adult animal.

A Triceratops Exhibit at a Museum

A cast of a Triceratops skeleton on display at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Natural History Museum – Frankfurt). On the left a wall mounted example of a Plateosaurus can be seen.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dr Larson went onto add:

“If you could imagine a person, 6-foot tall, inside the stomach of one of these adult Triceratops, they couldn’t reach each side of the rib cage.”

Could Yield Important Data

This newly discovered site could yield some important data.  Preliminary work indicates two adults and one potential juvenile, this could be interpreted as a family group indicating parental care, although it is too early to make conclusions.

We, at Everything Dinosaur look forward to hearing about this dig and we are also looking forward to working with the students this week as we explore some of the mysteries of Triceratops with them.

To view articulated models of Triceratops and other horned dinosaurs: Beasts of the Mesozoic Articulated Figures.

Earliest Evidence of Cancer Discovered in Hominid Fossil Record

With a report out today from Macmillan Cancer Support stating that by 2020 nearly half the population of the United Kingdom will get cancer during their lifetime, scientists from the University of Kansas have been looking at the oldest incidence of hominid cancer yet found in the fossil record.  Many types of cancers today are associated with a diet which contains too much fat, or exposure to pollution, radiation or other toxins.  However, a fragment of rib bone found in a cave in Krapina, Croatia shows evidence of a fibrous dysplasia (bone cancer) in a Neanderthal.

Neanderthal Rib Bone

Finding evidence of pathology is rare in the human fossil record.  Something such as a fleshy tumour would not be preserved as a fossil, but the evidence of a tumour can be seen as it has affected the internal structure of the rib bone.  The rib specimen is believed to date from around 120,000 years ago, a paper on its discovery and its implications has been published in the on line, peer reviewed journal, PLoS One (public library of science).

A Picture of the Diseased Bone (Top) Compared to Healthy Neanderthal Bone (Bottom)

Abnormal bone (top) compared to healthy fossil bone (bottom).

Picture credit: University of Kansas

Neanderthals Suffered Tumours

Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, David Frayer, one of the co-authors of the scientific paper commented:

“It’s evidence that Neanderthals suffered tumours — that they were susceptible to the same kinds of diseases that we see in modern humans.  Before this, the earliest tumour in bone that we’ve seen goes back to an Egyptian mummy.  So this is 100,000 years older[at least] than the previous tumour that has been found.  There is no evidence of cancer older than this in the human fossil record.”

The bone fragment is one of over 900 different hominid bones which have been found in the cave, along with other items such as stone tools.  The bone is not associated with a complete skeleton so it is impossible to say how severe the cancer was, or indeed whether or not it was the cause of death.  Researcher are not able to identify whether the bone comes from a male or female.  It does suggest that even in a pristine environment cancers were still present.

Our closest Relative

The Neanderthal (H. neanderthalis), is believed to be our closest relative, we share a common ancestor with the Neanderthals and in recent years study of both the Neanderthal and H. sapiens genome show that most people possess about 4 percent of Neanderthal genes in their genetic make up.

Neanderthals were short, stocky and heavily muscled.  Evidence of the heavy musculature appears in the extremely large muscle attachment scars on the fossil bones and the bowing of some of the limb bones.  Neanderthals were tough, used to hard physical work and suffered many injuries, although contrary to popular opinion they were not the brutish apemen often depicted in the early 20th Century.  They had large brains, were very well adapted to life in a cold climate and they made sophisticated stone tools.

Radiographs and CT Scans

According to the researchers, the Neanderthal bone is a 30-millimetre-long fragment of the left rib that shows a fresh break.  The break in the rib exposes a chamber that is 18 millimetres in length and 7.6 millimetres wide.  This cavity in the bone is highly unusual — ordinarily a rib is packed with cancellous bone.  After a detailed analysis with radiographs and CT scans, the investigators came to believe it was the site of a benign tumour associated with a bone cancer.

Fibrous dysplasia (bone cancer), is a developmental disorder of bone in which lesions develop fibrous tissue and spicules of woven bone.   However, it’s difficult to know for certain how severely the tumour affected the Neanderthal involved.

Detailed Analysis of the Bone Fragment Revealed the Pathology

Detailed analysis revealed the tell-tale signs of a bone tumour.

Picture credit: University of Kansas

Professor Frayer added:

“It wasn’t a small tumour.  It was a fairly large one, probably bulging at the base of the rib.  We’re not sure how far along it was, but it was well-expressed in the bone.  It was in the upper third of the back, and muscles attach there that are associated with raising the arm.”

This discovery will help scientists to understand a little more about how cancers could have affected our ancestors.  It also demonstrates that cancer is not a modern phenomenon and that although rare in the fossil record, it provides a clue to the complicated relationship between early humans and forms of cancer.

Jim Morrison Honoured by Having a Prehistoric Lizard Named After Him

A few weeks ago we reported on the naming of a new genus of arthropod after the film star Johnny Depp.  The Cambrian creature, a distant relative of today’s lobsters was named Kooteninchela deppi, as the scissor-like appendages found at the front part of the animal’s body reminded scientists of the titular character in the film Edward Scissorhands, a role played by Johnny Depp.

To read more about the arthropod named in honour of this actor: Fossil Named after Actor in Edward Scissorhands Role.

Barbaturex morrisoni

Now the singer/songwriter Jim Morrison, the front man of the “The Doors”, who died in 1971, is being honoured with the naming of an extinct, giant herbivorous lizard after him.  Jim Morrison had the epithet “The Lizard King” and this newly described Squamate, a member of a group whose extant members include Agamids and Iguanas, was certainly a “king-sized herbivore”, weighing in at near to thirty kilogrammes.

The terrestrial reptile, lived in south-east Asia from between 40 and 36 million years ago (Eocene Epoch), it has been named Barbaturex morrisoni, the name means “Morrison’s bearded king”, in reference to ridges found on parts of the creature’s mandible, its large size and the American rock star.

Barbaturex morrisoni – Able to Compete Against Mammalian Ungulates

Giant, vegetarian lizard discovered. A plant-eater from the Eocene.

Picture credit: Angie Fox

Probably Herbivorous

This large lizard was very probably herbivorous, the research team led by Dr Jason Head from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (United States), claim.  The warmer temperatures of the Late Eocene Epoch permitted lizards to reach such large sizes and although the mammals were diversifying rapidly, it seems this large, plant-eating lizard was more than able to hold its own against them.  The scientists have stated that this is the largest, herbivorous lizard known to science.

The research team examined the fauna of this ancient jungle ecosystem and found that Barbaturex was larger than most of the carnivorous mammals and bigger than many of the mammalian herbivorous that shared its habitat.  Competition for resources did not appear to restrict its evolution.

Many types of lizard today, such as the agamids and the iguanas are much smaller than mammalian herbivores in their environment, they are also predated by larger mammalian carnivores.

Co-author of the study, Professor Russell Ciochon (University of Iowa), commented:

“Reptiles and mammals co-exist most places on the Earth today.  What is interesting about the “Lizard King” is that it was a large vegetarian co-existing and competing with other herbivorous mammals.  Large lizards on the Earth today, such as Indonesia’s Komodo Dragon, and in the past, such as the Late Cretaceous Chinese Chianghsia nankangensis and the Pleistocene Australian Varanus priscus, are all carnivores.  These large carnivorous lizards were eating the mammals they co-existed with, not competing with the mammals.  The large size of the “Lizard King” certainly protected it from many predators. But there is no doubt that it was hunted by mammalian carnivores of the day.”

Examples of the Fossil Material – Elements of the Jaw

Fossil evidence suggests a herbivorous diet.

Picture credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biology)

The Squamata

The Order Squamata (lizards and snakes) can still surprise scientists even today, with new species being found occasionally, after all this Order of reptiles is the most diverse, most numerous Order of reptiles on the planet.  In 2010, scientists working on the Philippine island of Luzon announced the discovery of a new species of Monitor Lizard, one that could reach lengths in excess of two metres.  This lizard, named Varanus bitatawa, lives in the tree canopy and rarely ventures onto the ground, it too, like Barbaturex morrisoni is a vegetarian, although it weighs less than ten kilogrammes and much of its impressive two-metre length is made up of its long tail.

To read about the discovery of this new Monitor species: New Species of Vegetarian Lizard Discovered in the Philippines.

Dr Head explained that it was important to study past climates and ecosystems so that scientists can learn about today’s habitats and the interactions between faunas and floras.  During the Eocene, the average global temperature on the Earth was much higher than today, at around 20 degrees Celsius, the warm climate allowed the evolution of a large body size and the ability of lizards to successfully compete against the rapidly diversifying mammalian faunas.

The doctor then went onto explain how this new species got its name:

“I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research.  Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course ‘The Lizard King’, so it all kind of came together.”

Giant Lizards in the Future?

Average global temperatures today are around 14 degrees Celsius, however the scientists did not rule out the evolution of giant, herbivorous lizards in the future.  If global warming continues and the Earth does warm up and rain-forests and other tropical habitats come to dominate than the Squamata may well have representatives within it that are regarded as giant forms.

The fossils found in strata associated with the Pondaung Formation (Burma otherwise known as Myanmar), suggest that back in the Eocene this part of the world may have been as much as 5 degrees Celsius warmer than it is today.  The fossils, which include a lot of cranial and jaw material were found close to the village of Mogaung in the district of Sagaing, the scientists are keen to continue to their studies so that they can learn more about the ancient fauna that once roamed Eocene jungles.

For figures and models of extinct reptiles and other prehistoric creatures: Everything Dinosaur Models and Figures.

Complimentary Studies Show Change in Hominin Diets Around 3.5 Million Years Ago

A series of scientific papers have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that shed light on the changing dietary habits of prehistoric primates, including hominins in eastern and southern Africa.  From these studies, it seems that 3.5 million years ago (Pliocene Epoch), these creatures began to expand their diets, leaving behind a forest-based diet similar to that seen in extant Great Apes today and moving towards diets which indicate more time spent on the savannah.

Change in Dietary Habits

The change in dietary habits may help explain why so many species of large primate were able to co-exist in Africa during the Late Pliocene, it seems that with more types of food on the menu and more habitats being called home, these hominins may not have directly competed with each other.

In four new research papers, scientists analysed the carbon isotopes found in the fossilised tooth enamel from eleven species of hominins and other primates.  The fossils spanned a period of geological time from approximately 4.1 million years ago to the beginning of the Holocene Epoch (10,000 years ago).  The researchers found that there was an increase in the consumption of grasses and sedges, plants from the savannah, or perhaps animals that fed on these plants were being consumed by these species.

Ancient Hominins

University of Utah geochemist, Thure Cerling, the principal author of two of the new studies stated:

“At last, we have a look at four million years of dietary evolution of humans and their ancestors.  For a long time, primates stuck by the old restaurants – leaves and fruits – and by 3.5 million years ago, they started exploring new diet possibilities – tropical grasses and sedges – that grazing animals discovered a long time before, about 10 million years ago.  Tropical grasses provided a new set of restaurants.  We see an increasing reliance on this new resource by human ancestors that most primates still don’t use today.”

Why Didn’t Primates Exploit the New Habitat Earlier?

This leaves the scientists with an intriguing question.  As the average global temperature on the planet fell to around 15 degrees Celsius as the Miocene Epoch progressed, so extensive grasslands began to form and forests shrank back.  However, if grasslands were widespread by 6 million years ago, why didn’t the primates exploit this new habitat earlier?

The diets were analysed from the chemical make up of their teeth, identifying the carbon isotopes within them.  Broken fossil teeth were used in the study, with tiny amounts of fossil material extracted to make up each sample.

Chewing Grass and Sedges – Our Hominin Ancestors

At home on the plains.

Analysis of Fossil Teeth

The ratios of different types of carbon atoms, or isotopes, in fossils can give clues to what a fossil creature ate because different foods have different carbon isotope signatures.  In simple terms, when it comes to carbon isotopes “you are what you eat”.

Commenting on the study, Dr Zeresenay Alemseged (California Academy of Sciences), a co-author on two of the papers stated:

“What we have is chemical information on what our ancestors ate, which in simpler terms is like a piece of food item stuck between their teeth and preserved for millions of years.  Because feeding is the most important factor determining an organism’s physiology, behaviour and its interaction with the environment, these finds will give us new insight into the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped our evolution.”

The isotope analysis methodology cannot determine what parts of grasses and sedges hominins ate – leaves, stems, seeds and-or underground storage organs such as roots or rhizomes.  This technique is also unable to determine when human ancestors began getting much of their grass by eating grass-eating insects or meat from grazing animals.  Direct evidence of human ancestors scavenging meat does not appear until approximately 2.5 million years ago, and definitive evidence of hunting dates to only about half a million years ago.

Professor Cerling explained that although this study provides some useful information there were still many puzzles to solve, he pointed out that:

“We don’t know exactly what they ate.  We don’t know if they were pure herbivores or carnivores, if they were eating fish [which leave a tooth carbon isotope signature that looks like grass-eating], if they were eating insects or if they were eating mixes of all of these.”

Australopithecus afarensis and Kenyanthropus platyops

The scientists have concluded that species such as Australopithecus afarensis and Kenyanthropus platyops around 3.5 million years ago began to have a diet which was more grass based, they also tended to live in more open habitats.  The new studies show that these species not only lived on the savannah, but began to consume progressively more foods from their grassland homes.

Professor Cerling’s second study shows that while human ancestors ate more grasses and other apes stuck with trees and shrubs, two extinct Kenyan baboons represent the only primate genus that ate primarily grasses and perhaps sedges throughout its history.  Theropithecus brumpti ate a sixty-five percent tropical grass-and-sedge diet when the baboons lived between 4 million and 2.5 million years ago, contradicting previous claims that they ate forest foods.

Later, Theropithecus oswaldi ate a seventy-five percent grass diet by 2 million years ago and a 100 percent grass diet by 1 million years ago.  Both species became extinct, possibly as a result of increased competition from ungulates which were more efficient at processing grasses in their large guts.

The professor noted that primate grass-eaters such as the Theropithecus and the robust Australopithecines, also referred to as the Paranthropus, went extinct while modern human ancestors ate an increasingly grass-based diet.  Why?

He added:

“We now have good evidence that some early hominins began using plant foods that are not used in abundance by living African apes today, and this probably led to a major change in the way they used the landscape.  One consequence could be that the dietary expansion led to a habitat expansion, as they could travel to more open habitats more efficiently.”

The professor went on to add:

“We know that many early hominins lived in areas that would not have readily supported chimpanzees with their strong preference for forest fruits.  It could also be argued that this dietary expansion was a key element in hominin diversification.”

The study has also provided a possible answer to why there were so many different large primates able to co-exist in Africa during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene Epochs – they were not competing for the same food stuffs.

The researchers hope to be able to build on their isotope studies and gain access to new hominin discoveries so that evidence from new specimens can be added to their research programme.

For models and figures of ancient hominins and prehistoric animals: Safari Ltd Prehistoric World Figures.

Teeth Study to be Undertaken to Discover the Diet of the Marsupial Lion

New research on the unique teeth of a 100-kilogram lion-like marsupial that lived 50,000 years ago is opening the way to understanding what may have been the most specialised carnivore Australia has ever seen.

Thylacoleo carnifex

Museum Victoria and Monash University Honours student Angela Olah has begun a research project that aims to understand the peculiar teeth of Thylacoleo carnifex – an Ice Age-era animal often referred to as a marsupial lion – by studying fossils collected from across Australia, now in the collection of Museum Victoria.

Research into the Diet of the Marsupial Lion

New research project to be undertaken.

Picture credit: Peter Trusler/Australian Post

“Thylacoleo was originally thought to be a herbivore because of its lack of canines (fang teeth) and because it belongs to the order Diprotodontia, which also includes kangaroos and other herbivores,” said Olah.  “However, Thylacoleo had long blade-like teeth along its upper and lower jaws that could have acted as scissors for meat.  They would have been useless for chewing vegetable matter.”

She went onto add:

“Thylacoleo’s blade-teeth suggest it had a limited carnivorous diet and was therefore a specialised hunter.”

Marsupial Lion

To determine the nature Thylacoleo’s diet, Angela will be comparing the marsupial lion’s blade-teeth to teeth from living animals whose hunting methods can be directly observed, such as lions, hyenas and leopards.  She will also be using advanced laser scanning techniques and 3-D printing in her research.

“Thylacoleo’s teeth set it apart from every other living animal, so this research will shed some light on the evolution of Australian marsupials,” Angela said.  “In addition to that, by learning about Thylacoleo’s diet we also learn about the ecology of the area it lived in, which is key to unravelling the mystery of its extinction along with other Ice Age beasts.”

To read about a recent discovery of giant diprotodont fossil bones in Australia: New Research into Megafauna of Australia Hints at Extinction Theory.

Everything Dinosaur is grateful to the Museum Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) for sending us this news.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Visit the Everything Dinosaur Website.

Woolly Mammoth Carcase from Siberia Holds Evolutionary Clues

The discovery of a partial female Woolly Mammoth carcase by scientists from the North Eastern Federal University, the Research Institute of Applied Ecology and the Russian Geographical Society may prove to be the best preserved found to date.  The carcase, when examined provided samples of blood and the tissue is still pink and “flesh-like” in parts.  This fossil find in the Lyakhovsky islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago in the Eastern Siberia sea moves the possibility of being able to clone a mammoth one step nearer, but cloning still remains a long way off.

Woolly Mammoth Carcase

Although a significant proportion of the creature’s body had been lost and there were signs of scavengers having attacked the corpse, the scientists were able to remove the head, the torso and one of the hind legs.  An assessment of the molars indicate that this Woolly Mammoth was between 50-60 years of age when she died.

Semyon Grigoriev, the leader of the field team working in the extreme conditions, commented:

“The fragments of muscle tissues, which we’ve found out of the body, have a natural red colour of fresh meat.  The reason for such preservation is that the lower part of the body was underlying in pure ice, and the upper part was found in the middle of tundra.  We found a trunk separately from the body, which is the worst-preserved part.”

Evidence of Blood

When the corpse was probed with a pick, some reddish liquid, originally described as blood began to ooze from it, a phenomenon not recorded before as far as we know and it is remarkable how well preserved some of the soft tissues may be on this particular fossil specimen. The researchers were able to collect samples of  this blood-like liquid.  It looks very dark and since the temperature at the time of the excavation was between -7 to -10 Celsius, it is remarkable that the blood would still be liquid at these temperatures.

The scientists have speculated that the blood may have some anti-freezing properties, perhaps an adaptation to living in extreme climates.  Alternatively, the flowing blood could be explained by the presence of bacteria with cryo-protective properties in the samples.  The carcase may have been contaminated and the blood has remained liquid in part due to the presence of these contaminants.

The blood,  or indeed the liquid containing elements of the constituents that make up Woolly Mammoth blood, which was found in ice cavities below where the belly would have been, will help scientists to understand more about the unique properties of cold-adapted mammals.

The Russian team are hoping that their discovery will further the research of University of Manitoba Professor Kevin Campbell, who has theorised that the haemoglobin of Woolly Mammoths had special properties that made it very efficient at delivering oxygen to tissues even at extremely low temperatures.  Recently, a phial of Mammoth blood has gone on display in a Canadian museum, to read more about this and the work of Professor Campbell: Woolly Mammoth Blood Goes on Display.

Blood and Tissue Samples Sent for Analysis

The blood and tissue samples have been sent to Yakutsk so that they can be screened for any potential harmful bacteria and then it is hoped that other international Mammoth experts will be able to join the Russian team as they study this specimen.

Although the scientists had to work in very harsh conditions, being able to find carcases in the cold weather is very important as it aids the preservation of specimens.

Semyon Grigoriev explained that it was important to find Mammoths in cold conditions as the specimen would be thawed and subsequently damaged in the summer.  Such finds would not be as valuable to scientists as they attempt to plot the Woolly Mammoth genome with the long-term aim of cloning one of these Ice Age giants in the future.

Professor Campbell, has had the opportunity to study some of the photographs taken by the research team as the carcase was carefully excavated.  He noted that the soft tissues looked particularly well-preserved and he stated:

“The animal’s muscle tissue is pink rather than the brown colour it turns when the proteins are damaged and oxidised, indicating that it is “extremely well preserved.  The blood also appears reddish, it may be possible to look at any preserved haemoglobin.”

Trying to Identify Undamaged Cells

One of the objectives of the researchers is to identify intact, undamaged cells in the specimen.  Although fragments of genetic material have been recovered from some specimens, if an intact cell could be found then it would help to increase the possibility of being able to clone a living Mammoth.  An intact cell could be used to generate more cells and this would make cloning much easier than by trying to use fragments of DNA and piece data together from the DNA alone.

Does this Mean that Cloning a Woolly Mammoth is Closer?

Will the Woolly Mammoth return?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows a Woolly Mammoth family, for models and replicas of Woolly Mammoths and other Ice Age creatures: Papo “Les Dinosaures” Models and Replicas.

However, many observers doubt that even a carcass this well preserved could yield any intact cellular material.  Enzymes in bacteria that normally live inside animals such as mammals rapidly break down cells and DNA shortly after death occurs.  To have any chance of finding such material the carcase would have had to be frozen solid very quickly, just a short time after death.  This said, the specimen does offer the intriguing possibility that our ability to clone an extinct animal from genetic material recovered from a fossil may be one step closer.

To read another recent article on the discovery of a Siberian Woolly Mammoth fossil: Russian Scientists Study Mammoth.