Primitive Dinosaur Discovered To Have Tumor Growths

First Posted: Jul 06, 2016 06:23 AM EDT

We know that tumors can affect animals too, but it seems that the illness had been on earth since before humans were born - in fact, tumors may have grown in animals before they did on humans.

Duck-Billed Dinosaur Suffered From Facial Tumor https://t.co/R1bLBCt6sP pic.twitter.com/oTcFL7E3tZ

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An international team made an incredible discovery on a primitive duck-billed dinosaur called the hadrosaur: it was said to have the first ever facial tumor in a fossil. The growth was found on a jaw of the 69-million-year-old species found in the Valley of the Dinosaurs in the Hateg County Dinosaurs Geopark in Transylvania, western Romania.

Mirror UK noted that while tumors have been found in humans and mammals, and even some modern reptiles, it has never been seen in fossils of animals before. Kate Acheson, a PhD student at the University of Southampton, spoke about the discovery, saying that it is "the first ever described in the fossil record and the first to be thoroughly documented in a dwarf dinosaur."

She also added that the presence of such deformity so early in their evolution provided evidence that duck-billed dinosaurs were actually more prone to tumors than others. Scans taken off the fossil showed that the dinosaur may have suffered from a condition called "ameloblastoma," which is tumorous and benign, but non-cancerous.

Dr. Bruce Rothschild from the Northeast Ohio Medical University and a worldwide expert in the study of ancient diseases told The Daily Mail that the discovery of the ameloblastoma in a duck-billed dinosaur is evidence that humans have more in common with the primitive animals than previously thought, adding that "We get the same neoplasias [growths]."

While it is unlikely that the tumor caused the dinosaur any pain other than a sore jaw, researchers can tell from its size that the animal died before it reached adulthood, and there could be a possibility that the ameloblastoma may have contributed to its death, although that remains to be seen.