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Bčr has broken rib One of the ribs of mosasaur Bčr shows two strange bumps. Doctors at the Maastricht Academic Hospital diagnosed the bumps as the result of a fracture. On the surface of the rib, two swollen 'bumps' are clearly visible. X-ray photographs and a 'CT-scan' (a kind of three-dimensional X-ray) show that the bumps were grown over the normal bone structure, concealing a small fissure underneath. The internal bone structure underneath the bumps does not seem to be affected, so an inflammation or a cancer can be excluded. It seems that the tissue surrounding the bone has become irritated by the fractures, which resulted in the formation of additional bone tissue on top of the rib. Hence the bumps. Broken bones are not unusual amongst mosasaurs. Mosasaurs are actually known to have lead a pretty rough lifestyle. Fights and even cannibalism were not unusual. From the United States we know mosasaur fossils with remains of their own kin in their belly, and even a fossil of a broken tooth sticking out of the rear end of another mosasaur skull. Mosasaur Bčr must have suffered a pretty heavy blow, because a rib of more than 3 cm thick simply does not 'just' crack. Still, the rib is not entirely broken, and eventually the fissure was repaired. Nonetheless, Bčr would have had a rather painful rib for quite a while, but in the end, it turns out he survived without too many problems. close window | newsarchive |
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