14 DAY TRIAL // Having analyzed the fossilized remains of a predatory dinosaur known to the scientific community as an allosaur, paleontologists found evidence that the ancient beast died after being severely injured by another dinosaur it probably attempted to prey on.
What's interesting is that, by the looks of it, the creature that killed the ferocious predator was a herbivorous dinosaur. More precisely, it is said that the beast died after battling a stegosaur.
According to paleontologists, stegosaurs roamed the Earth about 150 million years ago. For decades, it was assumed that they were no more and no less than sluggish herbivores that spent their days eating and exploring their surroundings.
As it turns out, these ancient massive creatures were no strangers to combat. On the contrary, they were well able to put up a fight and severely injure their opponents, even kill them if that was what it took to keep themselves safe.
Evidence of a battle of beasts
Speaking at a meeting of the Geological Society of America in Vancouver, Canada, paleontologists detailed that, while studying the fossilized allosaur remains this study is based on, they found evidence of a deadly stab wound in the creature's pubis bone.
Soon enough, it was determined that this wound matched the size and shape of spikes stegosaurs had growing on their Tails. Besides, the injury showed signs of infection. Hence, it was concluded that the allosaur died after getting into a fight with a stegosaur and losing.
“A massive infection ate away a baseball-sized sector of the bone,” paleontologist Robert Bakker said in a statement. “Probably this infection spread upwards into the soft tissue attached here, the thigh muscles and adjacent intestines and reproductive organs,” he added.
Interestingly enough, it appears that the wound that killed this ancient predator was not very much different from the ones rodeo cowboys or their horses sometimes suffer when they are attacked by seriously pissed off bulls.
Stegosaurs were built to kill
Specialists say that, unlike other dinosaurs that they shared their world with, stegosaurs had surprisingly flexible and powerful tails. Besides, they were able to control this appendage of theirs with as much precision as monkeys display when shaking their tails around in this day and age.
“They have no locking joints, even in the tail. The joints of a stegosaur tail look like a monkey's tail. They were built for 3-dimensional combat,” specialist Robert Bakker told people present at the Geological Society of America meeting in Vancouver.
Then again, it appears that, as massive and as deadly as stegosaurs might have been, they weren't exactly what some would call smart. On the contrary, they had freakishly small brains when compared to the size of their body.