# Fossilized Evidence of Injuries to Predatory Dinosaurs?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 21, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690 "2017-03-21T15:32:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/1 "2017-03-21T15:32:01Z")
Have there been fossils which indicate injuries to the big predatory dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurs or Allosaurs? I’m looking for something like, “Yes, this dinosaur was definitely killed by a triceratops horn”, or perhaps an ankylosaur or stegosaur tail. Or it got crushed by a big sauropod. Something like that.
I’m pretty sure that they have already found evidence that tyrannosaurs fought amongst themselves, and left fossil evidence. Feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken!
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/2 "2017-03-21T16:30:47Z")
I recently attended a lecture by Jack Horner who is currently working on creating a Dino-Chicken and someone asked him what does he get the most letters about. He said that when he starting telling people that T-Rex was a scavenger as opposed to a predator he started getting lots of hate mail. So it’s unlikely a T-Rex would attack a Triceratops unless it was dying or dead. How he figured that out he didn’t say. I’ll ask him next time I see him.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/3 "2017-03-21T16:41:03Z")
IIRC there is evidence that T-Rex specimens had fallen and broken those tiny arms…
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/4 "2017-03-21T16:45:23Z")
There is [this](http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/fighting-dinos/the-fighting-dinosaurs/) fossil of a protoceratops and velociraptor fighting while both were suddenly killed. Both seem to have gotten some hits on the other.
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### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/5 "2017-03-21T17:08:09Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> There is [this](http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/fighting-dinos/the-fighting-dinosaurs/) fossil of a protoceratops and velociraptor fighting while both were suddenly killed. Both seem to have gotten some hits on the other.
Oh, i forgot all about that one!
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/6 "2017-03-21T17:25:47Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> IIRC there is evidence that T-Rex specimens had fallen and broken those tiny arms…
Jack Horner said that those tiny arms were vestigial and if the non-flying dinosaurs had survived a few million years more they would be completely gone.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/7 "2017-03-21T17:30:38Z")
nm
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/8 "2017-03-21T17:37:23Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> I recently attended a lecture by Jack Horner who is currently working on creating a Dino-Chicken and someone asked him what does he get the most letters about. He said that when he starting telling people that T-Rex was a scavenger as opposed to a predator he started getting lots of hate mail. So it’s unlikely a T-Rex would attack a Triceratops unless it was dying or dead. How he figured that out he didn’t say. I’ll ask him next time I see him.
There’s [evidence](http://www.livescience.com/38182-tyrannosaur-tooth-in-hadrosaur-tail.html) of dinosaurs having survived Tyrannosaur attacks so it seems probable that it did do some hunting in addition to opportunistic scavenging.
As the OP mentioned, we have found [wound evidence](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/terrible-tyrannosaur-teens-bit-each-other-on-the-face-56607914/) on T-Rex skeletons which was likely inflicted by other Tyrannosaurs.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/9 "2017-03-21T17:41:05Z")
[Sue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_(dinosaur)):
_During life, this carnivore received several injuries and suffered from numerous pathologies. An injury to the right shoulder region of Sue resulted in a damaged shoulder blade, a torn tendon in the right arm due most likely from a struggle with prey, and three broken ribs. This damage subsequently healed (though one rib healed into two separate pieces), indicating Sue survived the incident._
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/10 "2017-03-21T17:51:05Z")
[This Allosaurus](http://westerndigs.org/allosaurus-died-from-stegosaur-spike-to-the-crotch-wyoming-fossil-shows/) apparently perished after catching a Stegosaurus tail to the crotch and the wound getting infected. The article mentions other Allosaurus skeletons found with healed Stegosaurus-inflicted wounds.
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### Author:  [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/11 "2017-03-21T18:49:43Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> IIRC there is evidence that T-Rex specimens had fallen and broken those tiny arms…
Apparently, examination of the muscle attachment traces on fossils has indicated that the arms saw quite a lot of use. For what, no one knows.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/12 "2017-03-21T19:02:34Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#):
>
> Apparently, examination of the muscle attachment traces on fossils has indicated that the arms saw quite a lot of use. For what, no one knows.
> **[Could a Human Beat a T. Rex In Arm Wrestling?](https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/could-stallone-beat-t-rex-arm-wrestling/)**
>
> "First, we're assuming that the T. rex won't just eat the person, right?" asks Jack Conrad, a vertebrate paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Right. This is a sanctioned match, and killing your opponent is strictly...
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### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/13 "2017-03-21T19:22:16Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> [This Allosaurus](http://westerndigs.org/allosaurus-died-from-stegosaur-spike-to-the-crotch-wyoming-fossil-shows/) apparently perished after catching a Stegosaurus tail to the crotch and the wound getting infected. The article mentions other Allosaurus skeletons found with healed Stegosaurus-inflicted wounds.
Wow! Fantastic! Just what I wanted. Thanks for the info.
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### Author:  [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/14 "2017-03-21T20:50:31Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> [This Allosaurus](http://westerndigs.org/allosaurus-died-from-stegosaur-spike-to-the-crotch-wyoming-fossil-shows/) apparently perished after catching a **Stegosaurus tail** to the crotch and the wound getting infected. The article mentions other Allosaurus skeletons found with healed Stegosaurus-inflicted wounds.
**my bolding**
That’s called a “thagomizer”.
> **[File:Thagomizer.png](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thagomizer.png)**
>
> Thagomizer.png (199 × 260 pixels, file size: 25 KB, MIME type: image/png)
> The original Far Side cartoon, drawn by Gary Larson in 1982, in which the term "thagomizer" was coined. DS 03:01, 7 November 2005 (UTC)
> The original caption that went with the cartoon was "Now this end is called the thagomizer ... after the late Thag Simmons."
> qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Any other uses of this image, on Wikipedia or elsewhere, may be copyright infringement. See Wikipedia:Non...
Apparently the word is “in use” among paleontologists.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/15 "2017-03-22T17:02:50Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> Jack Horner said that those tiny arms were vestigial and if the non-flying dinosaurs had survived a few million years more they would be completely gone.
Can’t find a cite right now, but recently read that an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus had short arms _60 million years earlier_, causing scientists to question whether the arms were shrinking over time at all. Maybe they were useful at that size.
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### Author:  [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fossilized-evidence-of-injuries-to-predatory-dinosaurs/782690/16 "2017-03-22T17:29:46Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#):
>
> **my bolding**
> That’s called a “thagomizer”.
>
> [File:Thagomizer.png - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thagomizer.png)
>
> Apparently the word is “in use” among paleontologists.
🙂 I was actually thinking of that old “Far Side” cartoon when I started the thread.