Mating Injuries Lead Scientists to Identify Female Dinosaurs
Traumatic bone injuries in the tails of duckbilled dinosaurs have led scientists to a major discovery – they believe they can now identify the bones as female.
Palaeontologists have been trying to identify female and male dinosaurs for decades, but it is very difficult to determine.
Researchers at Queen's, working as part of an international team of palaeontologists, analysed the herbivorous hadrosaurs, one of the most successful groups of dinosaurs.
Using statistics and computer simulation, they found that a common pattern of bone fractures at the dinosaurs' tail were likely caused during mating, where the male dinosaur crushed the backbones of the female.
Dr Filippo Bertozzo began studying duckbill dinosaur pathologies for his PhD research at Queen's.
Major discovery in dinosaur research.
Author's summary: Scientists identify female dinosaurs through mating injuries.