14 DAY TRIAL // While investigating the fossilized remains of a pliosaur, a type of massive, ocean-dwelling reptile, researchers found signs indicating that the effects of arthritis killed the specimen in question. Pliosaurs were about the size of a modern-day whale.
The creature had teeth as large as a knife, and not so many natural predators. There were very few things that could kill it, yet the new study indicates that arthritis was one of them, Science Now reports. The pliosaur researchers analyzed suffered from a severe, degenerative condition affecting its joints.
Over time, the condition led to a misalignment in the animal's jaw, which affected it for a long time. Scientists found new grooves in the jawbone, made by its poorly aligned teeth when the pliosaur shut its mouth.
An unhealed fracture made researchers believe that the creature died simply because its jaw snapped in half, due to wear and tear. Details of the study appear in the latest issue of the journal Paleontology.