Sue's Parasite

Nick Brown
Current events
1/2/09

My article is about the recently investigated holes in the all famous tyrannosaurus-rex Sue’s jaw. Looking over the Sue’s skull scientists previously thought that small holes in Sue’s jaw were a result of conflict with another dinosaur. A new study today challenges that theory. The holes in her jaw are neat and have smooth edges while bite makes are messy and not as consistent as the lesions seen on Sue. The idea that Sue was infected by a lowly parasite was getting more and more realistic. The holes look just like the affects of the Trichomonas gallinae parasite that still affects the mandibles of birds of prey today. It is very likely that Sue’s infection in her throat may have starved her to death. The lesions have been found on nine other T-Rex specimens also. This article was interesting to me because I have always been interested in dinosaurs, and even today as I think of dinosaurs, I think of big merciless beasts that can be killed only by the jaws of another dinosaur of by a meteor that crashes into the earth.
After this article I realized, although it’s hard to imagine, how a severe sore throat could bring down the most ferocious dinosaur of all time. Dinosaurs are always looked at as something amazing and unique, although true, they are just like everyone and everything else is some ways. As modern diseases kill animals of our time, dinosaurs were affected with the same burden. The huge T-Rex was being killed by something that for once she couldn’t defend herself from. In class We are talking about the geologic timeline, dinosaurs and how they evolved and were killed. This is why I thought it would be interesting to tell the unusual story of a dinosaur that we all love, Sue. I now wonder what other parasites or diseases might have accursed other species of dinosaurs and how those may have evolved into some of the diseases that we see today. Just like the Trichomonas gallinae.

References

Was Mighty T. Rex 'Sue' Felled By A Lowly Parasite?. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090929133117.htm