Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Suffered From Cancer

Polyploid Pimp writes "Nature reports a study by Bruce Rothschild of NEOUCOM about cancer in dinosaurs. Rothschild's group X-rayed 10,000 bones of over 700 museum specimens across North America. They found that only one group, the hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs got cancer. They hypothesize the cancer may be due to the dinosaurs presumed diet of conifers, which contain a number of known carcinogens. Additionally, this group of dinosaurs is thought (by some people) to have been warm blooded, which may have increased their cancer risk. They cite as support for conducting their study that understanding the causes and rates of cancer in other animals may provide insight into human cancers. I find it an interesting story as it demonstrates another use for museum specimens outside of their original collection purposes, and represents (to me at least) one reason to keep funding them, since you never know how the material may be used in the future."

Comments

Bone cancer, or all types?

[bluGill]

AFAIK we only have bones (and fossilized ones at that, which don't really contain the origional bone), and not the rest of the dinosaur to examine. So are they willing to say no type of cancer in all those others, or just no bone cancer?

Re:Bone cancer, or all types?

[Carnildo]

When someone dies from cancer, it's usually because the cancer has spread all over the body, so what may have started out as skin cancer can be found in places like bones.