An analysis of the teeth of Sue, one of the most famous T-Rex in the world, seems to confirm the idea that the animal suffered from an infection parasite at the end of its life. It may have been this infection that led to his death.
Sue is one of the largest T-Rex ever found and it is also the most complete. Discovered in 1990 on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the theropod (whose sex is undetermined) measured at its time, 67 million years ago, 12.8 m long and 3.9m high at the hips.
The question of his death is still debated. Some suggest the animal drowned in a river. Others, on the other hand, raise the possibility that the T-Rex eventually died of starvation, having difficulty feeding due to a parasitic infection. This was indeed the conclusion of a study published in 2009 in the journal Plos One .
Sue's jawbone, whose skeleton is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, does indeed display several holes that some believed to be battle scars. In reality, the researchers had concluded that these scars were not the result of a confrontation with another titan, but that they were the work of a small parasite called trichomonas gallinae . This parasite, responsible for trichomoniasis, is still active today, mainly in birds of prey in which it can cause serious lesions in the lower part of the beak.
A new study led by paleontologist Kirstin Brink, from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg (Canada), suggests that this parasitic infection may also have deformed several of Sue's teeth. . By analyzing them using 3D digital images from CT (computed tomography) scans, the researcher pointed out that three of them were strangely "crushed and bent ", displaying "a weird, almost rippling texture on the sides ". Of these three teeth, two had also fused.
We know that dental problems were common in theropods . On the other hand, most probably had a genetic origin. Here, the fact that only three of the animal's teeth were affected, and not all of the teeth, allows us to rule out the genetic hypothesis . According to the paleontologist, it would be a consequence of this supposed parasitic infection proposed in 2009.
The researcher notes that modern birds (descendants of theropods) who get trichomoniasis now develop large waxy growths in their throats. “The infection can also spread through the skull and through the skin, so many tissues in the head can be affected “, she explains. However, as modern birds have lost their teeth, it is difficult for us to know whether or not this infection could affect them.
