American paleontologists have first discovered traces of cannibalism on fossils of allosaurs. According to the scientists, it is a new indication that so-called theropods – or two-legged, carnivorous dinosaurs – had each other on the menu.
Similar evidence had previously been found on skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex, the younger and more famous allosaurus cousin who lived some 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.
Allosaurs grew to about three feet long and were at the top of the food chain 150 million years ago, in the late Jurassic period.
Toothprints
For their research, paleontologists at a site in the US state of Colorado analyzed more than 2,300 bones of all kinds of dinosaurs for bite marks. At least a third of the teeth were found. That is considerably more than average, the researchers write their article in the scientific journal PLOS One.
Thus, 17 percent of the allosaurus fossils also contained such traces, most likely from other allosaurs.
Bite marks on allosaurus fossils:
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