# Dinosaurs with cancer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368 "2001-03-25T00:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/1 "2001-03-25T00:49:43Z")
I’m sure I once read somewhere or saw on TV that a dinosaur fossil was found that showed distinct evidence that the animal had suffered from a type of bone cancer. Is this true or is my memory playing tricks on me? Also, could any other diseases leave traces on bones? Could a dinosaur get arthritis? (Do modern reptiles or birds get arthritis?) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/2 "2001-03-25T03:18:28Z")
You’re not crazy. A search of Google for [dinosaur cancer](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=dinosaur+cancer&btnG=Google+Search) turns up lots of hits. There is even a theory that cancer caused the extinction of dinosaurs. I also found sites that talk about athritis in dinosaurs, including [InteliHealth](http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9071/11009.html): > [@](#): > > Arthritis is a primitive disease. Among the fossilized remains of early man (Neanderthal man) - and even in fossilized dinosaur remains - there are signs of arthritic disease. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/3 "2001-03-25T07:24:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > **There is even a theory that cancer caused the extinction of dinosaurs.** That’ll teach 'em to play around with nuclear reactors. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/4 "2001-03-25T07:34:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\*I’m sure I once read somewhere or saw on TV that a dinosaur fossil was found that showed distinct evidence that the animal had suffered from a type of bone cancer. Is this true or is my memory playing tricks on me? Also, could any other diseases leave traces on bones? Could a dinosaur get arthritis? (Do modern reptiles or birds get arthritis?) \*\* According to the great Dinosaurologist, Dr. Gary Larson, the use of tobacco was common among most dinosaur species. This caused widespread throat, jaw, and even lung cancer that eventually led to mass extinction. I do believe some of the dinosaurs relatives, namely the crocodile, komodo dragon, and alligators are involved in a class action suit against Phillip Morris. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Lego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@Lego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lego)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/5 "2001-03-25T12:00:43Z")
Yes. The holotype specimen of _Torosaurus latus_ (a close relative of Triceratops) had a disease similar to Multiple Myeloma. Small tumours within the bone left bumps on the dinosaur’s frill. Dinosaurs also got arthritis, but it was rare. It has been identified in _Iguanodon_, but never in any hadrosaur, ankylosaur, theropod, stegosaur, ceratopsian, pachycephalosaur, or sauropod. There are cases of gout in _Tyrannosaurus_, cancerous growths on _Allosaurus_ or _Torvosaurus_, divots in lambeosaurines, fractures in many dinosaurs, a few tooth injuries, infection in _Tyrannosaurus_, and a defective _Hypselosuaurs_ egg with pores of multiple layers not alligned. And probably lots of others too. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/6 "2001-03-25T17:00:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homer \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > > **There is even a theory that cancer caused the extinction of dinosaurs.** > > That’ll teach 'em to play around with nuclear reactors. > \*\* Didn’t you read the issue of _The Far Side_ which showed the real reason dinosaurs went extinct? It wasn’t from nuclear reactors, but from smoking cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![FunkDaddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc79bd/32.png) [@FunkDaddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FunkDaddy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/7 "2001-03-25T18:50:31Z")
Numerous diseases can mark bones; the short list I’ll introduce here is neither specific to dinosaurs nor exhaustive. It’s derived from “Skeleton Keys” by Jeffrey H. Schwartz, an excellent forensic anthropology text: Fungal disease: Actinomycosis (features many small resorptive foci) Cryptococcosis (lytic lesions will be present) Bacterial disease: Brucellosis (multifocal lytic lesions, may result in arthritis) Viral: Smallpox (destruction of metaphyses; separation of epiphyses) Other: Sarcoidosis (multiple round lytic lesions) Osteoarthritis Rheumatoid Arthritis CPDD DISH All these occur in humans; there may be overlap with dinosaurs (you didn’t specify if you only wanted dino-diseases in the OP :)) FunkDaddy - I am to compassion what Mother Theresa was to hot gay sex. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/8 "2001-03-26T20:42:07Z")
Thanks, everybody. Now I have more ammunition when I debate creationists! **Lego** where did you get all that? That was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/9 "2001-03-27T01:45:41Z")
OK, so what were the carcinogens, other than the obvious tobacco smoke and nuclear reactors? Last I knew, you needed some sort of carcinogen to cause cancer, and the vast majority of carcinogens seem to be man-made or man-concentrated. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/10 "2001-03-27T02:26:26Z")
How about radiation? On [this page](http://library.thinkquest.org/C005824/cancer.html) is a theory that the collapse of a nearby star flooded the primeval Earth with neutrinos and their interactions caused cancer in dinosaurs, perhaps leading to their extinction. The Sun puts out neutrinos, but fewer of them and at a slower rate than a nearby star would at its moment of collapse. Large animals, being so voluminous, would be more susceptible to neutrino radiation. A similar hypothesis suggests similar effects from a supernova, but this is a much more rare event than a star collapsing into a white dwarf or a neutron star. Before the end of the Cretaceous, before extinction, dinosaurs could have contracted cancer from natural sources of radiation like uranium or perhaps even the Sun. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinosaurs-with-cancer/59368/11 "2001-03-27T11:51:23Z")
Chronos– Perhaps dinos could have got cancer not from smoking tobacco (as Larson has it), but from chewing (eating) it or other similar plants with carcogenic properties. We know there are plants that have evolved toxic properties to keep from being eaten. Why could not some plants have evolved a longer-term defense against being eaten into extinction? Also, some incidences cancer are caused by random mutation of genes. It really can occur naturally, without apparent cause.